Dragon Slayer's Brain Damage
by LilttleFreak
Summary: Kristal is a shadow dragon slayer. Small problem: she has amnesia. With no memory of anything, she has to piece together what happened to her and her mentor. She was sent on her first mission with Gajeel, and decided to form a two-mage team when the pair worked out. Humor, adventure, ass-kicking, cheesy romance-ish scenes, and booze. Rated T for previous themes. Gajeel x OC
1. The Girl in Black

**Dragon Slayer's Brain Damage  
****Ch.1**

**The Girl in Black**

I blinked once. Twice.

'Where the fuck am I?'

I looked around, realizing all eyes in the room were either watching me or rolled back into their owners' head. Well, except for that one guy in the back eating something that looked suspiciously like a fork. I looked down at myself. I was wearing a dusty coat-like black cloak that went down to my feet. It had long sleeves and a hood, but only four latches (one on my neck, three on my breasts) to hold it shut, the rest of the coat staying closed thanks to gravity. Nothing on it had color or shined. I turned to the closest conscious body, a young white-haired girl who appeared to be a waitress. Seeing as I wasn't exactly sure of the situation, I decided to opt for a more polite dialect. "Sorry to be a bother, could you tell me where I am?"

Her stance eased a bit when I spoke, and she replied with a friendly smile. "You're in Magnolia, in the Fairy Tail guild to be exact."

I furrowed my brow.

'Fairy Tail… Why does that seem so familiar?'

I could vaguely remember a rough male voice saying something about that particular guild, but the words blended into one another and I couldn't make heads or… well... Fairy Tails of it. I mentally kicked myself for the horribly lame pun, and focused on the voice. I sounded familiar, and I instantly felt tightness in my chest that had nothing to do with injury.

'Were we close? More importantly, did something happen?'

I was pulled from my thoughts when the girl extended her hand towards me. Most of the onlookers had gone back to their original positions, but a few still watched the two of us. "I'm Mirajane Strauss, and you?"

I shook her hand and gave a small smile. "Nice to meet you, I'm… I'm not sure…"

She gave a small, disbelieving laugh, a confused look coming over her features. "What do you meant you're not sure? What's your name?"

I frowned, dropping her hand to smooth back wayward hairs that had fallen into my face. "I don't know… I can't remember a goddamn thing…"

Mirajane sighed and grabbed my wrist, causing me to flinch. I mentally shook it off and looked at the girl "Hm? Is something wrong?"

She gave another small chuckle, smiling gently. "Other than your apparent amnesia, nothing. I just though we'd sit somewhere while we try to figure out exactly how much of your memory you're missing."

I nodded and let her lead me to the bar, where a blonde was already sitting. We both grabbed a stool and sat on opposite sides, Mirajane drawing a notepad out of her hip pouch. "Okay, so what's the last thing you remember?"

I absentmindedly chewed on my lower lip, trying to think back past 5 minutes earlier. "I really don't have any memory of before asking you where I am… but I do vaguely remember a rough male voice… I think he told me of Fairy Tail… Other than habits and reflexes, I'm basically a blank slate."

I sighed. Mirajane nodded, then put her notepad away and stood up. "Well you did seem in a daze when you walked in. That was quicker than I expected, I'll go get Cana and we'll see if she can help."

She turned to the blond girl "Lucy? Keep her entertained and away from Natsu, will you? I don't need him destroying a newcomer again."

Both girls laughed and Mirajane left in search of Cana. The blond turned towards me. "Hey, I'm Lucy. I'm supposed to entertain you, so do you want to see my keys?"

I frowned a bit. "Keys?"

She smiled, her chocolate brown eyes crinkling, and nodded, before pulling a ring of keys from her waist. "Yep. I'm a stellar spirit mage. I use these to summon them."

She named all of her keys and gave me a basic understanding of what each of them did while we waited. She was describing what contracts consisted of, when Mirajane came back with a grumpy-looking brunette walking behind her. "Sorry to keep you waiting, I had trouble pulling Cana from her drink."

Mirajane snapped her fingers and stopped, making Cana walk into her. "Drinks! I forgot to ask if you wanted anything to drink."

She pulled out her notepad and flipped it open. "What do you want?"

Cana instantly shouted "Crystal Lakes for all of us."

I stiffened, my spine going cold.

'Crystal? No… Kristal.'

This time the rough tone was clearer, the words grew more defined as I focused on them, even if the beginning was lost.

'… _Crystal. There. Happy?' _

I briefly listened to Cana arguing that Mirajane had said "no more beer, so it doesn't apply to other drinks" before concentrating on the memory again.

'_Fine. Kristal, Kris for short. Now c'mon kid. I ain't got all day.' _

I stood up, startling the three women who had been sitting around me. "K-R-I-S-T-A-L. Kris."

Lucy and Mirajane wore a confused expression, but Cana just looked at me like I was insane. "What on Earth are you spelling about?"

Sitting back on my stool, I grinned at the trio. "My name. I'm Kristal, Kris for short. It's nice to meet you all."

Mirajane's face lit up. "Did you get your memory back?"

I shook my head at her. "No… I think I remember things when I hear a word or phrase directly related to it. Like when you said the word Crystal. I discussed my name with someone and I didn't want it to be Crystal, so he changed it to Kristal, and Kris for short."

Cana's eyes lit up as well. "So you're telling me a drink caused you to regain part of your memory?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes…"

Cana broke into a grin and suddenly hooted, drawing the entire room's attention to the four of us. "HA! IN YOUR FACE STRAUSS! AND YOU SAID MY DRINKING NEVER AMOUNTED TO ANYTHING GOOD!"

Lucy and I were chuckling at the outburst, until we saw Mirajane's pouting face. Then we burst out laughing, sliding onto the floor. The entire guild soon joined us, and I noticed an old man walking towards us a few seconds later. Mirajane immediately stopped pouting and smiled at the man. "Hello Master Makarov. I hope you're enjoying that little laugh at my expenses."

He hopped onto the counter, and a large smile grew on his face. "Quite, but that's not why I'm here. I heard we have a new friend."

Hoisting myself back onto my seat, I smiled at the master. "Hello sir, my name's Kris."

Dropping his smile, he shoved his face extremely close to mine, foreheads almost touching. Before Mirajane could protest, the master opened his mouth and started talking. "Say Kris, do you like it here?"

I inched backwards, uncomfortable. "Well, I've only been here for half an hour… But I like the people I met so far, so yes."

The master leaned back a bit, a satisfied grin on his face. "Do you have a home to return to?"

I sighed and shook my head. "No, it doesn't feel like I do. And even if I did, I wouldn't remember it."

Makarov leaned all the way back, rocking on his heels, and a wide grin spreading on his face. "Then welcome to Fairy Tail. Mirajane, get the supplies, okay?"

My jaw dropped a bit. "Wait, Master, I don't remember magic either! I don't even know if I had any to begin with."

The old man's grin dropped. "Well… We could always keep you as a maid… OH!"

Makarov's face lit up at the renewed hope. "We could always ask Natsu! He can smell magic, so he'd be able to tell."

Cana rolled her eyes "Yeah, but he's on a mission. Won't be back for a few days."

Lucy shifted awkwardly in her seat. "Umm… We could always try Gajeel… I mean he probably won't want to cooperate, but his nose is as good as Natsu's."

Mirajane, who had come back with a small pouch, sighed a bit and crossed her fingers in front of her. "He seems to be our last option. Master, there's a greater chance of success if you ask him first. Tell him we need to know if a possible recruit has potential. If he asks any other question, tell him the truth."

The master nodded glumly and walked away, dragging his feet. Cana went to nearby table and shuffled a deck of cards, Lucy sat in front of her, and Mirajane walked to the other side of the room to take orders, leaving me alone. It stayed that way for about .4 seconds, and then a smaller girl with wavy blue hair pulled back with a bandana came up and sat besides me. After brief introductions, Levy and I looked at and commented on the various games being played, the various conversations, the various drinks, and the various states of consciousness. After 8 poker games won by Cana against the same group of guild members, Master Makarov reappeared from the crowd. Mirajane, who had come back to make the drinks ordered, frowned and leaned over the counter. "I'm guessing Gajeel said no, since he's not following you."

The small man jumped and stood on the counter. "Actually, he said he wasn't a dog but that he could smell her magic all the way across the room."

Cana and Lucy got up and joined us, curious as to what the master had to say. "It would seem you have a great amount of power, forgotten or not. He couldn't say exactly what kind, but it's not a user, script, or summon type."

Cana slapped me on the back and cheered, knocking me out of breath. Lucy laughed at us and Mirajane shook her head, sighing, before turning to me. "So, where do you want it and what color?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Lucy put a hand on my shoulder and showed me the back of her other hand, where a pink symbol was printed. "Your Fairy Tail stamp tattoo."

I brushed it lightly with my index finger. "Cool… I know where I want mine."

I hopped down from my stool, wincing at a sharp pain in my left thigh. I undid the clasps on my cloak, letting it fall off my arms onto the stool. As soon as my appearance registered in our brains, Lucy, Mirajane, and I put a hand up to our mouths, whispering something similar to "Oh my god…" although mine containing a lot more foul language. Cana just slammed her glass down, spilling amber liquid over the edge. Levy covered her face with both hands, a small cry escaping her lips. People at neighboring tables who had been looking over fell quiet and soon the entire room was silent. I was a mess. My clothes themselves were fine, if dirty, all plain black and tight-fitting. Short shorts, tube top ending a few inches below my breasts, and high leather boots. My exposed skin was another matter entirely. My arms were covered in bruises and burns, and several cuts were wrapped in gauze. More gauze was wrapped around my aching thigh, a deep red stain growing from the center. I could see more inside my boots, but I had no desire to go explore them. The worse was my stomach. There were three parallel cuts, which looked suspiciously like claw marks, wrapping from to the left of my spine to the my navel, still on the same side, and I could feel several bruises and pulled muscles in my back. The two lower cuts were raised and pink, starting to scab over, but the top one was blood red, swollen, and held shut by rough stitches. The whole thing was covered in a gel I only hoped was medicine. Upon closer inspection, I realized the thread was the exact same shade and texture as the dark hair falling on my shoulder. I sighed and straightened, turning towards the frowning master. "Master, I think my tattoo might have to wait. I seemed to have played chew-toy for and overgrown pet. I hope I at least kicked its ass for almost gutting me."

I turned my head when I heard someone snort a laugh behind me. A tall man was leaning against the back wall, his long, spiky, black hair clashing against the smooth white paint. I smirked at him, raising an eyebrow. "And who are you to question my humor?"

He grinned and crossed his arms in response, the piercings on his face and arms glinting with the movement. "Gajeel Redfox, and I was just expressing my amusement at yer attitude, seein' yer… physical situation."

My smirk grew into a grin of my own, and I turned to face him completely. "Kris, and I didn't know my _physical situation_ was any of your concern."

He peeled himself off the wall, his muscles rippling with the movement. Not that I was watching or anything. "It's not, but ya obviously got pretty roughed up."

I crossed my arms as well and tilted my head slightly to one side. "You've got quite the sharp eye. What gave me away? The bloody bandages or the giant gash in my middle?"

His grin spread, obviously pleased at my attitude. "I can smell the blood from here. And I'll take the "sharp eye" comment as praise."

I rolled my eyes at him, and turned back to the master. "So, is there a medic around here?"

* * *

_Author Notes_

_1. I planned this to be my first story, but the Gaara one was done first. Although, this one isn't actually done editor-wise, I deemed this good enough not to mortify me. Enjoy._

_2. The title was inspired by the dragon slayers' attacks. They always yell "_ dragon's" then the attack (might change depending on sub, dub, manga, etc), so I though I could use it to give me a semi-original title._

_3. The next chapter is mostly Lucy playing doctor, but it has some details you might want to know._

_4. Regents are upon us (or at least me), so I might not post anything for a while. However, I am a slacker and professional procrastinator, so you might still get a chapter. Until we meet again, I recommend "Mrs. Lucy, Wait WHAT?" by Bittersweetcrimson. Enjoy :)_


	2. Doctor Lucy

**Dragon Slayer's Brain Damage  
****Ch.2**

**Dr. Lucy**

I was led into a back room by Lucy, my doctor for the day, and told to sit on the cot in the corner. While she hung my cloak in the back of the room, she told me to remove all bandages and as much clothing as I was comfortable with while she got the equipment. I undid the bands on my arms, revealing healing cuts and more burns. Pulling off my boots then the gauze covering my entire leg below the knee, I noticed they were exactly like my arms: bruised, burnt, and cut. My feet were wrapped in leather and cloth, which seemed to be replacing socks, and gauze underneath that. Beneath the bandages, the soles of my feet were an angry red and rock hard. I pulled my top over my head, gritting my teeth as the movement stretched the stitches, and inspected the dull pain and tightness of breath I'd been having. There were no cuts, but bruising indicated broken ribs. I pulled it back down, eyeing my thigh. I pulled the edge of the bandage, wincing when it pulled at the skin underneath it. I slowly unwrapped it, scrunching my nose at the mess of jagged flesh. It looked like a wild something had dung its teeth in and thrown me around for a while. I looked up when I heard Lucy gasp. She was in the doorway that led to a storage room, holding a cardboard box that seemed to be overflowing with medical supplies. She immediately put the box down on the table next to the cot and went to work on my thigh, her gloved fingers probing the mess. She grabbed a disinfecting wipe, tearing open the packet. As soon as the alcohol touched the torn wound, I bucked forward and let out a long stream of foul words, cursing in different languages when I ran out. Lucy, cringing at my outburst, quickly applied antiseptic and re-wrapped it in fresh gauze. I gave a shaky laugh and apologized for swearing so profusely. She shook her head and moved on to my lower legs. The blonde cleaned the cuts and applied burn cream, re-wrapping them as well. She then applied the same cream to my feet and re-wrapped them tightly. Frowning, she stood up and treated my arms. "What happened? Did you crawl through a volcano or something?"

I chuckled at the thought. "Possibly… Or maybe I fought a fire-breathing tiger, which would explain the claw marks. Well, at least now I remember I know how to swear in seven languages."

Lucy smiled in response and sighed. "Yeah… Speaking of which, lay back and put something in your mouth so you don't bite your tongue. I have to take care of your stomach and we're out of anything to dull the pain besides ice cubes."

I nodded and leaned back, shoving the cot's covers into my mouth. Lucy grabbed a new pair of gloves, tweezers, and a small pair of scissors. "All right, I'm starting, try not to move too much."

She gently cut and picked at the makeshift thread, carefully undoing the stitches. I felt her reach for something and gently squeeze my knee.

'Fuck.'

I bit down and dug my nails in the mattress, unaware of the shadows circling and growing around me, my back arching as white bolts of pain raced in all directions from my middle and bounced around. Lucy quickly finished and moved on to the stitches, the lesser pain registering in the back of my brain. She straightened, sighing. "Sorry about that… Anything else?"

I sat up, groaning at the movement. "Yeah, my ribs. I think I broke a few."

I lifted my shirt, exposing the bruises. She pursed her lips and ran her fingers over my ribs. "They seem to be set correctly, so you should be fine with just wrapping them tightly."

She handed me a length of gauze and went back into the storage room. Doing as she asked, I wrapped the cloth around my chest as tightly as possible. It was uncomfortable, but breathing came easier. Lucy came back and handed me grey skinny jeans and a loose blue shirt. I frowned, confused, but took them anyways. Lucy noticed my expression and smiled. "Wrapping your ribs compresses your chest. If you were to wear your current top, it would probably fall. Besides, no offense, but your clothes_ are_ a bit dirty."

I nodded and took off my shorts, handing them to her along with my top. I pulled the new clothes on, carefully avoiding the bandages. Lucy handed me a pair of flats that would "complete the outfit" and put my clothes in a plastic bag. "I'll clean your stuff tonight, so you can wear that until tomorrow. Well, actually keep them, we have more and these suit you."

I smiled and handed her my boots. "Thanks Lucy, I really appreciate it."

She turned towards the medical box, throwing away the things we hand used and putting the rest away. "No problem. You can go back out now, I'm just cleaning up here."

I nodded and started to leave but stopped when I caught my reflection in the mirror on the wall. My black hair was straight and in a high ponytail, the ends touching my shoulder, but several strands had slipped out and we falling in my face. My eyes were purple and ringed in black, but closer inspection revealed it was from a lack of sleep. A faded streak of rusty brown ran from the top of my nose to my left cheek. I turned towards Lucy. "How could you even let me in when I look like this? Do you have wipes and a hairbrush?"

She laughed and handed me the two items. "We have a policy of not turning anyone away… Until we know for sure that they're evil."

I chuckled, took the objects, and faced the mirror. I wiped at the streak on my face, rolling my eyes when the brown turned out to be a deep red when wet.

'Of course, why would it be anything else?'

I looked at the thing holding up my hair. It seemed to be a small metal dragon, but uncoiled and wrapped around my finger when I touched its back to pull it down and off my hair. I brought it up to my face, admiring its life-like details.

'Wait. Life-like? How do I know what a real dragon looked like?'

I narrowed my eyes at the metal creature, mentally demanding in answer. I was suddenly taken by a memory, like a flashback. A large black dragon with purple highlights and horns pushing me the small figurine I was currently holding towards me with his nose.

'_Here, take this. I don't care how corny it sounds, but that way I'll always be with you.'_

'Huh. I didn't actually expect it to work. At least I know where the magical metal dragon thing came from and what the voice belonged to.'

I brushed my hair back and pulled it up, fiddling with the mini-dragon until it wrapped around and held my ponytail. I turned my head to both sides, looking at my handiwork. Unsatisfied with the result, I undid it and put it back up, this time leaving a strand of hair out so it would hang over the iris of my left eye.

'Much better.'

I gave the brush back to Lucy, who was now wiping down the table, and threw away the dirty wipe. I then went back to the main room, where the others were. Mirajane looked up from a serious talk with Master Makarov and smiled. "Hey, you're looking a lot better."

I gave a short laugh, rubbing the back of my neck. "Yeah, Lucy fixed me up. Sorry about the swearing earlier, but alcohol doesn't agree with ripped flesh."

Cana chuckled, the sound distorted by the glass of beer she was holding to her face. Mirajane smiled again and sat on one of the bar stools. "Well Gajeel seemed entertained enough, I could hear him laughing even after he went out the door. He went home for the day, in case you wanted to know."

She turned back to the counter, nodding at Lucy who had just arrived, and picked up the small pouch from earlier. She unzipped it, revealing a stamp and ink-pad. "Alright, once again, where and what color?"

I smiled as well and pulled up my sleeve. "Left shoulder, black."

Mirajane nodded and placed the stamp on the ink-pad. "Any reason why?"

I sat down on the closest stool, turning my shoulder towards her. "Easy to hide for missions but easy to show for identification. And black goes with everything."

She nodded again, pressing the stamp to my exposed shoulder. "Makes sense, I never thought of that. There, all done."

She place the items back into the pouch and got up to put them back where she got them. I was admiring my new tattoo when I saw Levy coming towards me out of the corner of my eye. "Hey Levy, what have you been up to?"

She sat in front of me, swinging her legs back and forth. "Nothing much, I was just discussing going on a new mission with Jet and Droy."

I raised an eyebrow the younger girl. "Jet and Droy? I don't think I met them yet…"

A large smile grew on Levy's face and she hopped down from her seat. "They're my teammates, we form Shadow Gear. Stay here, I'll go get them."

On this, she ran off, Lucy filling her now-empty seat. "I'm guessing you already met Levy-chan."

I nodded, watching the locks of blue hair bounce across the guild with a smile. "Yeah, she came up to me when Master went to talk to Gajeel."

Lucy nodded and turned around so she could see the girl walk back, two guys in tow. The first one was wearing a large hat slightly crooked on his head, and the second had an antenna-like cowlick sprouting from the top of his hair. Levy came to a stop next to Lucy and turned towards me. "Kris, this is Jet and this is Droy. Guys, this is Kris."

I nodded at the two, exchanging greetings. To the girls' great entertainment, Levy insisted on introducing me to everyone in the room until Mirajane suggested we go home. Hearing this, they realized I had nowhere to sleep, as the guild would close for the night. After a few minutes of everyone but me discussing possibilities, Lucy sighed and said I could sleep at her house. "Natsu and company are always barging in, so I'm used to it, and they're on mission, so we won't be bothered."

Mirajane and Levy nodded, agreeing with Lucy. I sighed, resigning. "Alright, I'm in. You have to let me do something in return though. You already treated my wounds earlier."

Lucy shrugged nonchalantly. "I could always use a cook. Now lets go, there's a movie on TV tonight I want to see."

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_1. I apologize at how much of this was just fixing Kris, but at least a few things happened... Oh well, you got a chapter, so be happy. This is my "school's over lets celebrate" chapter post._

_2. Ch. 3 will be out either this weekend or next week, since it's already almost typed. I like that chapter a lot, but the next one even more. You'll see why when I get there._

_3. I always have at least one poll up, and would appreciate if you could answer it. You just need to click on my name, which takes you to my account, and answer the poll at the top of the page. PLEASE take the few seconds needed to answer._

_4. SCHOOL'S OVER :D OH. FrUK. YES._


	3. Gossip Girls

**Dragon Slayer's Brain Damage  
****Ch. 3**

**Gossip Girls**

We talked on the way home, covering all topics that didn't relate to my memory or injuries. Two men on a boat bid us goodnight as we passed them, reminding us to be careful. Lucy was ranting about how her teammates always destroy everything during missions when we reached her door. She opened it and waved me in, dropping her keys and whip on a small table by the door. "The kitchen's this way."

I followed her, eyeing the piles of books and papers on every surface. "I'm guessing you're either a bookworm or a novelist."

Lucy laughed, her head in the fridge. "A bit of both, actually. I haven't had anyone over in a few weeks, Natsu being away and all, so I haven't picked up after myself."

She straightened, smoothing her hair down. "Okay, we have eggs, dairy stuff, ham, leftover fish, and vegetables of some kind. There's pasta in the cupboard. I'll be in the bedroom if you need anything."

On this, she smiled and walked out of the kitchen. I looked around the room. No cook books, but plenty of novels. There was, however, a magazine advertising some new pasta recipe. I shrugged and boiled spaghetti, then dug through the fridge for ham, which I diced, and sour cream. I put both in separate frying pans on the burner and added seasoning to the cream. After the diced ham was slightly brown, I added those to the mix. I drained the pasta and took out two plates, filling them with stringy tangles, then added a large spoon of the now-cooked cream and set them on the counter. "Hey, Lucy! What do you want me to do now?"

She stuck her head out the bedroom door. "Put the food on the coffee table next to the TV. Move the books anywhere."

I nodded and she disappeared behind the door again. I moved the books on the floor near another pile and set the table where she told me. Lucy came out of the bedroom, wiping her brow. "Wow, not bad! I was expecting leftovers and ham."

I chuckled, filling the glasses with water. "Well, there's ham in there. I stole the idea from a magazine and improvised. Hopefully, it won't kill us."

She gave a laugh and we both sat down. I handed Lucy the remote and she flipped through channels, stopping on an action-romance movie. We ate in silence, captivated by the weak plot and bad acting. As the end credits scrolled across the screen, we both got up. I cleared the table and Lucy went back to her room to finish settings things up. I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, then joined Lucy in the bedroom. She finished plugging wires behind a smaller television and straightened with a flourish, satisfied of her work. She bounced over to where I was standing and excitedly led me to a closet. "Okay, pick what you want. I even have black. I mean, I rarely wear them, but I'm ready for any occasion."

I smiled and pulled out a pair of black shorts and a tight-fitting shirt of the same color. "Why are you so exited?"

She grinned and pointed a finger at me. "Because, sleepover. Gossip, painting each other's nails, board games, gossip, fattening foods, movies, and more gossip."

I grinned back and nodded. "Sounds great. I can't contribute much to the gossip, but I'll participate in any way I can."

Lucy laughed and waved me towards her room. "I'll go get the supplies, you can change in there."

I gave her a thumb up and went to get dressed. I carefully peeled off my clothes and folded them before setting the bundle on top of a pile of books near the door.

I tugged on the shorts and shirt watching out for stitches and bandages. Lucy came back, carrying an armful of supplies. "Alright, what do you want to do?"

I shrugged, taking a board game from Lucy's arms. "We could play this. Or watch another movie. Your room, your choice."

She thought for a moment and set the rest of her things on the floor. "We could play a board game while watching a movie. The cookies are in the oven."

I nodded and opened the box, laying out the game pieces. The game, _Bazoomba_, consisted of rolling two dices, taking the number of cards indicated, and using them to win a battle against their opponent(s). The winner of the battle moves the number of spaces indicated by the dices. The first person to go around the board twice wins. Lucy put an action movie in, pushing the large popcorn bowl next to the game. I looked at the CD cover, which featured a large explosion. "That's unexpected. You look more like a romance movie lover."

She shrugged, sitting down next to me. "Yeah, most of the time. This movie is still one of my favorites, I-"

We both jumped as the scene abruptly switched from quiet conversation to C4 and car chases. Lucy dove forward to snatch the remote and turned down the volume. We both gave a shaky laugh and I rolled the dices, starting the game. We played until the cookie timer went off, at which point Lucy was beating me by half a turn. She came back with the delicious sugar and calorie bombs, and the board game was forgotten. When the credits rolled across the screen, Lucy went to get a shoebox and I put the game away. The worn cardboard box contained every nailpolish color known to man, and then some. Lucy picked out a glittery champagne color, and I opted for a black with purple shimmer. We started with soaking our feet in a bucket of warm scented water, ignoring the burnt state of mine, and then painted them. Lucy finished my big toe with a flourish and looked up. "So, what do you think of our guild's men?"

I chuckled, wiping off a stray drop of polish. "Jet and Droy are nice and cute enough, but they're completely obsessed with Levy-chan."

Lucy giggled a bit, a hand going to her face. "It's that obvious, huh? What about Elfman?"

I shook my head, dipping the brush back into the vial. "Haven't met him yet. He's Mirajane's brother right?"

She nodded, brushing her blond hair out of her eyes. "Yep. He's on a mission with the youngest Strauss, Lisanna. Sorry, I guess I forgot. What about Nab?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What _about_ Nab. He's a nice guy, but all he does is stand around the request board. I'm not about to get involved with someone who can't pick a job on his own. Although, I'm willing to learn more about him if the occasion presents itself."

She shrugged, finishing my feet. "I guess I'm so used to him being there it didn't occur to me. Okay, what about Macao and Wakaba?"

I started on her hand, scrunching my nose. "Ick. Too old. Macao's not too bad, but Wakaba is just an old, _married_, perv. He kept hitting on Mira. Their magic is pretty cool though… I would've like to see them as teens or young adults."

Lucy laughed, painting my entire finger black. "I have, Wakaba had the same hair. Other than that, they weren't _too _bad. You met Reedus, right?"

I chuckled and nodded, reaching for the nailpolish remover towelettes things. "Yeah. Nice guy, I really like his drawings. I wouldn't date him, but he's officially my go-to artsy friend. Which reminds me, I'll have to ask him where he got his light pen next time I see him."

She took it and started wiping at the extra polish. "Yeah, I want one of those too. What do you think of Vijeeter?"

I shook my head, my hair swinging wildly. "No comment. Ever."

We both chuckled and finished our nails. I held my hand up to my face, blowing on the wet polish. "But seriously, what's the deal with Gajeel? Other than that rhymed. You all acted weird when you needed his help earlier."

Lucy gave an awkward laugh and started packing up. "Well… It's a pretty long story…"

I handed Lucy my bottle and shrugged. "And I have nothing better to do. You might as well talk while our nails dry."

She nodded and pushed the nailpolish box away. "Okay. Do you want to hear the good or the bad first?"

I considered this for a moment before answering. "Bad. That way the good can restore my opinion of him."

She nodded again and dragged the bowl of popcorn over to us. "Okay... So, he was originally in a guild called Phantom Lord. Their master, Jose, hates us and they attacked our guild. Gajeel was one of their top 5 mages, so they had him destroy our guild building single-handed. He happily complied, but thought we needed a clearer message. So he beat Shadow Gear unconscious and stapled them to a tree before painting the Phantom symbol on Levy's stomach."

I stared at Lucy, my mouth slightly open. "The guy I sarcastically talked to back at the guild did that? And what to you mean by stapled?"

She sighed and popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth. "Yeah. And he put metal over several places on our arms and screwed the metal to whatever is behind us. Not through us, but still."

I rolled a kernel between my thumb and index finger, looking at Lucy. "Our? Us? I thought he stapled Shadow Gear to a tree, not you."

She stopped halfway through licking butter off her fingers, looking slightly surprised. "He didn't. He kidnapped me, beat me unconscious, tossed me around, attached me to a wall, and threw daggers when he got bored. Natsu came to the rescue before he could do any real damage. I though I mentioned that,"

I shook my head, grabbing some popcorn for myself. "No you did not. Please, continue. This is weirdly interesting."

Lucy stretched, her back and shoulders cracking in the process. "Well, this is where it gets confusing. After we destroyed Phantom, another one of their top 5 members, Juvia, really wanted to be a part of our guild. She's following Grey, so you didn't see her today. She's a nice person at heart and _really_ wanted it, so the Master allowed her to join. Even after she became a member, she was still worried about Gajeel. She told the master he really wasn't that bad and that he looked lonely last time she saw him. Master went to look for him and offered Gajeel to follow in Juvia's footsteps. He said he'd never forgive anyone who hurt his children, but that he could never forgive himself if he let a young man fall to the darkness when he could still be saved. Gajeel eventually agreed, and joined Juvia in the "former Phantom, now Fairy Tail" status."

I smiled a bit, pulling my legs out from underneath me. "Master Makarov is a very good man. How did the rest of the guild take it?"

Lucy made a face, shaking her head. "Not well. Most of the guild was angry with both Makarov and Gajeel, but since our master asked him to join, not the other way around, we couldn't do anything about it. Even Gajeel said he didn't plan on being "buddy-buddy" with us and that Fairy Tail was just a temporary thing until he found a stronger guild. I personally don't believe that. First, he sung some thing called "Best Friend" at the guild a few days after; and second, whenever someone insults Fairy Tail or hurt one of us, he beats the daylight out of them. Anyway, when he left for _my_ mission sometime within the first week, Jet and Droy thought they should pay him back in fists. Levy was hiding behind a tree the whole time, asking them to stop. Then Luxus, who got excommunicated by the way, showed up and beat the tar out of him too for making the guild look weak. Thing is, he didn't fight back in any of the assaults. Like if he was trying to show he was sorry and wouldn't hurt his nakama. Levy told Luxus to stop, and he turned on her. Gajeel put himself in front of her, blocked the attack, and then left for his job."

I choked on a piece of popcorn and held up my hand. "Whoa, wait a sec. The guy who beat up Levy took the blow _for_ her?"

She nodded and went to the kitchen to get the both of us water. "Mhm. That's part of why people think he likes her. _I_ think he's just trying to make up for hurting them back when he was in Phantom."

I took the glass she handed me, and nodded. "Thanks. I agree with that theory, by the way, it makes more sense."

She sat back down, holding her own glass. "I know, right? Anyway, then Luxus pulled an evil stunt and made us all fight against on another under the threat of several girls' lives. Including mine… Natsu and Gajeel hunted Luxus down and fought him together. Not that they liked it, but they did. Eventually, Natsu ended up fighting alone for some reason I can't remember, and Gajeel used himself as a lighting rod to take a hit that probably would've killed Natsu. He was also the only one who could understand what Natsu was saying once we bandaged the both of them."

I sipped my drink, motioning for her to continue. She took a swig and looked back at me. "Well, this happened in an alternate world… The whole guild was trapped in a giant lacryma, spare Natsu, Wendy, Happy, Charlie, and me. You haven't met any of them. Anyway, we were doing pretty badly until Gajeel showed up and freed Grey and Erza from the crystal. He and gave those two pills to restore their magic, as well as extra ones for anyone from our guild they encountered. He was causing a scene trying to find the rest of the crystals so he could free the rest of us. Happy took him to the giant lacryma, but Pantherlily attacked them there, so Gajeel spent most of the time fighting him off. Gajeel adopted Pantherlily after we defeated them by the way; he was only fighting on orders and helped us in the end. But yeah, he pushed back against the floating island to prevent an explosion that would destroy our guild's crystal and an entire race of locals. It'd take too long to explain everything. The king had so weird dragon-armor thing, and no normal magic worked against it, so Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel attacked it and worked together to defeat it. We did pretty well on our side too, come to think of it…"

She thought for a second before continuing. "But anyway, really long story shortened, he did horrible things to our guild building, Shadow Gear, and me; but then he really helped us and showed he actually likes Fairy Tail. So we're all weird around him because we're very cautious and frankly, we don't know how to act. A lot of us still think he's going to betray us. He's loud, swears a lot, gets violent easily, and is scary overall. But many of our guild members are like that too, spare the scary part. That's just Erza and Master. Anyway, he's always careful with Levy and the rest of Shadow Gear. He confuses even the best of us. What do you think?"

I sighed and leaned back on my hands. "I think you should treat him as a comrade. I wasn't there to experience the bad things he did, so my judgment isn't clouded by my emotions. I'm not saying you should forgive and forget, because from what you said, he seems to have enjoyed it. But he did plenty to redeem himself and ask for forgiveness, even if not through words. I'm accepting him as my nakama, and you should too. Think of how he feels. He's obviously trying to make amends and to show he's changed. What you guys are doing has got to be making him feel like crap. Humans can live alone, but they can't live lonely. I'm not telling you to be his best friend, because I haven't gone through what you have and thus don't have the same feelings for him. But I think it's time to at least accept him as a true member of Fairy Tail. Now, how about a horrible movie to lift all of this emotionally heavy stuff out of the atmosphere?"

She sighed and nodded, looking slightly sad. "Yeah, I guess you're right. And I'm all for a dumb movie. Can you hand me the remote?"

I reached behind me and handed her the requested item. She thanked me and flipped through channels until we found something horribly dumb. We watched part of a movie with cheerleading competitions as an excuse for a plot before falling asleep, leaning on each other.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_1. Did you enjoy that chapter? It was a pain to write, what with getting all the Gajeel facts correct and in order. And nothing happened throughout the whole 3000 words. I still liked it thought, because I never hate anything I write once it's typed, reviewed, retyped, and beautiful. Hopefully, I didn't bore you too much._

_2. Ch. 4 is 99% done, just need some minor changes. Like introducing the date u_u I have to say I LOVE IT :D and yes, just because Gajeel is finally a main character. #2 also comes out of the dark corners. You'll know who #2 is soon enough._

_3. Cookie for recognizing the obvious reference, 1000 internets for the really hidden one. Let me know in comments or PMs :)_

_4__. Um... I forgot what I wanted to say. Anyway, ANSWER MY FrUK'ING POLL! D: I need your precious seconds to save me from wringing my brain out to make the decision myself._


	4. First Mission

**Dragon Slayer's Brain Damage  
****Ch. 4**

**First Mission**

I stirred.

'There's something heavy on my shoulder…'

I cracked open my eye and looked at the weight.

'Oh, it's just Lucy. … Why's Lucy sleeping on me?'

I opened my eyes all the way, looking around the room. The TV was still on, but the movie had long since ended.

'Oh yeah… We were bored to sleep by bitchy teenagers… Gross, I have popcorny morning breath.'

I slid out from under Lucy, setting her gently on the floor, and turned off the television. Then I went into the bathroom, groaning as I spotted my reflection in the mirror.

'Okay, bath time. I don't care if it wakes the whole town up, I _cannot_ do anything in public like this.'

I filled the bathtub and stripped, folding my clothes and setting them on the counter. All the gauze previously wrapped around me found a new home in the garbage. I lowered myself in slowly, hissing when the steaming water touched the larger wounds. I undid my ponytail and massaged my scalp; the dark tangled strands falling around me like a curtain. I tilted my head back, soaking my hair. Several minutes later, as I was rinsing the soap out, Lucy poked her head in. "Hey, there. I washed your clothes as promised; thought you might want them."

I nodded, wiping at the water running down my face. "Yeah, thanks. Would you trade a toothbrush for breakfast?"

She pushed the door open and put the black bundle on the counter, and then picked up the clothes I had set down earlier. "Mhm. There are new ones in the cupboard, right next to the medical supplies." She pointed to said cupboard and stepped out, closing the door behind her. I sighed and finished rinsing before getting out of the tub. I carefully dried myself off and went to work on wrapping all my wounds. To my surprise, I found most of the burns and cuts had disappeared. Even the claw marks and gored thigh were significantly better, and my ribs didn't require attention. The bottom of my feet were still red and hard, but I could feel the rough shapes of the floor tiles.

'Wow… Magic water.'

I got dressed and put the medical supplies back, spare a large roll of gauze, cotton balls, and a vial of rubbing alcohol. I put them in my cloak pocket, which was near my side as to be hidden. I took out a toothbrush and went to hunt for toothpaste. Once I was all minty fresh, I brushed my hair and pulled it back into a high ponytail, leaving a strand over my iris again. I slung my cloak over my shoulder and stepped out. "Hey Lucy, I'm done. I drained the water; I didn't think you'd want to bathe in ointment."

She nodded, looking up from her book. "Yeah, thanks. You're not wrapping your arms and legs?"

I grinned and shook my head, ponytail swinging. "Nope. I don't need it. Most of my burns and cuts are gone, my ribs are all good, and everything else is doing better. You have magic bath water, I swear."

She chuckled and stood up. "No magic in my bathroom, that was all you. Come to think of it, you almost heal as fast as Natsu. Just what _are_ you?"

I laughed and moved out of her way. "Whoever finds out tells the other."

She laughed back and waved me toward her room. "There are books and movies in there, entertain yourself however you want. I'll be out in about an hour."

I nodded and she disappeared behind the door. I looked around the room, my eyes stopping on a calendar pinned to the wall.

'Huh. Saturday, June 14th. That's funny; losing your memory on Friday the 13th.'

I went to start on breakfast directly, planning on cooking something up. I cut fruits and set them in a bowl, made French toast (thank you cookbook from under the table), and was in the process of scrambling eggs when Lucy came out of the bathroom. "Whoa, there's and actual breakfast on the table. I never have time to do more than cereal or boring buttered toast."

I shrugged, a pleased smile on my face, and slid the eggs onto two plates. "I'm just surprised everything's somewhat edible."

She laughed and sat down at the table. I brought the eggs over, grabbing a bottle of orange juice on the way. Lucy turned on the TV and explained what Weekly Sorcerer was between bites. Once we were both done, I cleared the table and washed the dishes as Lucy finished doing her hair and minimal makeup. She quickly grabbed a pair of knee-high black socks from her closet and threw it at me. It hit me in the face and we both laughed as we put on our shoes. I grabbed my long cloak while Lucy grabbed her keys and whip on our way out to the guild. We came in to an argument by the almost-empty guild's request board. Mirajane was standing behind the bar, holding a flyer out of Gajeel's reach. "You can't go on this mission, and that's final."

Gajeel gritted his teeth and growled, shifting his duffel bag on his shoulder. "I'm always on solo missions, and it's none of yer business where I go."

Mirajane huffed and pointed at the flyer. "The client asked for two mages minimum. Even if you can take care of it on your own, you need another mage to stand next to you. And it _is_ my business. Master isn't here, so I'm in charge of who goes where. And you. Are. Not. Going."

Gajeel growled again, baring his teeth at the girl. "None of ya fairies want me as a partner, ya all run away as soon as I even look at ya. I'll force the client to agree if I have to."

I looked at Lucy, reminding her of the previous night with a side-glance. She looked down and nodded a bit. Mirajane shook her head angrily. "You will _not. _Partner or no mission, it's your choice. I couldn't care less if it was a deaf, mute, blind old man, but you need a partner and that's final."

Lucy perked up and pointed at me. "Well, she needs a partner for her first mission. Since Gajeel can take care of it himself, she can just stand back, look pretty, and observe how it's done. That and she needs money for an apartment."

I mocked-shoved her, grinning. "Kicking me out so soon?"

She laughed guiltily, and I turned back to the two other mages. "But seriously, I'll do it. I need an experienced mage so I don't get myself killed, and he needs a partner for show. If no one disagrees, we can go right now."

Mirajane raised a delicate eyebrow at my would-be partner. "How about it?"

Gajeel huffed and walked over, towering as looked me up and down. My cloak was on my shoulder, which left all wounds and bandages in plain view. "Ye'r lookin' better. Heh, why not. But I'm warning ya, broken or not; I'll kill ya if ya become a bother,"

I smirked, took a step forward, and tilted my head to look him dead in the eyes, leaving barely any space between us. "Staple me to anything and so will I. Do you need anything before we go?"

The other mages in the guild started at the both of us, surprised. Gajeel grinned and bent down the slightest bit, so our noses were almost touching. "I like ya, I think we'll get along fine. And we only need the mission flyer."

The staring mages' mouths dropped open, not believing what they saw or heard. Gajeel straightened to take the paper from Mirajane and walked towards the door, not bothering to see if I followed. I walked after him, giving a small wave at the shocked Lucy on my way out. I put my cloak on as we walked, then went up to walk next to him. "So, where are we going?"

Gajeel turned, as if just remembering I was there. "Train station. Don't get lost, I'd be a pain to look for ya."

I rolled my eyes at the taller man. "As if you'd even bother to waste your precious time. And, I meant for the mission."

He grinned, his piercings glinting in the sun. "We're goin' to a remote village in the mountains where some demonic beast had been eatin' people."

I considered this for a moment. "Sounds fun for you. And just so we're clear, I am _not_ going to be used as bait."

That had clearly been his plans, seeing his unhappy expression. "What are ya gonna do then? I ain't gonna protect ya."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Of course not. I'll get some kind of weapon and stand back. Then I won't be in your way or get killed if the thing comes after me."

Gajeel shrugged with his feathered shoulder and headed for the station's ticket vendor. I sat on the closest bench, about 200 yards from the ticket booth, and watched people walk by. I vaguely listened to my partner argue with the vendor, something about time limits. It didn't occur to me to question why I could hear them as clearly as if they were right next to me, or why I could smell a hotdog stand located on the other side of the train station. Gajeel eventually won and came back to where I was sitting. He leaned against a pillar, apparently too proud to share a bench. I rolled my eyes and stretched, pulling my arms as far above my head as I could, and bent back until I felt and heard the joints pop. I let a small sound of pleasure escape and relaxed as I watched two trains come into the station. Gajeel got off his pillar and headed towards one of them. I immediately followed after him, staying closer than necessary as not to get separated in the busy crowd. He flashed the train controller our tickets and ducked as he stepped in the train, trying to avoid hitting his head on the doorway. I did the same and looked at the passengers as we passed them. Many of them were staring at us, especially at my partner; whose hair and piercing weren't exactly inconspicuous. He sat down in the back of the train and motioned at the seat on the other side of the small table. I slid in carefully, feeling the worn leather beneath my fingers. We sat in silence, just looking at each other, until the train pulled out. I stared out the window as soon as we left the city, enjoying the beautiful scenery. After 15 minutes of this, I decided to try and think of ways to get my magic back, partially in hopes of being distracted from the dark-haired man staring at me across the plastic table.

'What the hell am I going to do to be a working mage again?'

**'You could always have him throw us off a cliff. Intense fear might do the trick.'**

'Something that _wouldn't_ involve me dying.'

**'You could also have him beat you to an inch of your life.'**

'No, that would probably still result in death. And can we start thinking of something that doesn't involve him?'

**'Why? Do we have a problem with him?'**

'No it's just… I don't know. I doesn't feel right.'

**'Nothing to do with the fact he's been staring at us for the past five minutes?'**

'No. It's not that.'

**'How about the fact we have something for tall men?'**

'Absolutely not. It has nothing to do with that.'

**'Maybe it's his piercings? They're pretty-'**

'NO. Will you quit it?'

**'It might be his well-defined musc-'**

'NO, SHUT UP AND STOP CHECKING OUT MY PARTNER!'

**'Hey, hey, hey. We're the same person. If I've been checking him out, so have you.'**

'… Can it.'

**'You know I'm right. And besides, there's nothing wrong with admiring someone that hot. He's got the whole bad-boy look working for him too, sexy scars and everything.'**

'Slamming a lip on those thoughts, _now_, and GO BACK TO THE DARK CORNERS OF MY BRAIN!'

**'Aye, aye, captain. But ignore me all you will, I'll still be here.'**

'Not if I take medication for my additional brain damage.'

**'Why would we take medication?'**

'Because arguing with yourself isn't _normal_.'

**'Oh, okay. I wonder what _his_ magic is…'**

'Same brain… I don't even know why I bother. He's probably a physical type.'

**'Mmm… A physical type.'**

'Did you just…nevermind. I know you did. I meant like shape shifting or physical enhancements. I don't see him as a item user or runes.'

**'There are so many jokes I could make… But I won't, just because I don't want you to scream out loud. Until we talk again. Personality #2, out.'**

I closed my eyes and sighed, putting my forehead on the window.

'Arguing with yourself is exhausting. I might have to admit myself to a psyche ward if that happens too often.'

I turned back to Gajeel, who was still staring at me. "Can you read minds?"

He raised a pierced eyebrow questioningly. "No, why?"

I sighed again and sunk back into the seat. "Nothing of immediate concern, I just didn't want you to think I was insane. Why _are_ you staring, by the way?"

He grinned at me, his piercings glinting again. "Reasons. And a little insanity makes for better fighters, so that's not an issue."

I raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. We stared at each other for a few seconds, at which point he slid the mission flyer towards me with a gloved hand. "Mayor made a request for two mages minimum, preferably young adults. Reward of 700 thousands jewels."

I leaned forward to get a better look at the old paper. "That's a lot. How long as this thing survived?"

Gajeel shrugged and leaned forward as well, his long, spiky hair touching mine. "Dunno. The flyer has been on the request board for at least 3 years, hidden under some boring pet grooming. I'd say the beast's been there over 5, seeing the mage request."

I nodded, reading over the job description. "Two means backup, young means we need to be in good shape to survive, and mages means regular folks have already tried and got eaten... This is pretty much a last resort. You're smart."

He grinned and put the flyer away. "Thanks, so are ya. How are we splittin' the reward?"

I thought about it a few seconds before answering. "How about 85-15? I'd get the lower share, of course. You're doing the work, but you can't actually do the mission without me. And I have a feeling my people skills surpass yours."

He huffed and crossed his arms, those piercings glinting too. "Fine. I get 85, and ya get 15. And I don't need any damn people skills to get whatever the hell I want."

I chuckled, putting my right foot on my left thigh. "Of course not, I have complete faith in your superior abilities, both physical and otherwise. I do however think the client will appreciate not being intimidated to death."

He grumbled something and stared out the window. I looked at him and smiled a bit.

'He's a nice guy. Very rough around the edges, but a nice guy all the same.'

I could feel #2 trying to resurface and comment, so I leaned back against the old leather and zoned out. We both became extremely bored after a half hour of nothing, and played cards the rest of the time, only talking when necessary. The train pulled in the station 4 hours later, the grinding of the metal wheels piercing my eardrums. I noticed Gajeel wince too, but none of the other passengers seemed to notice. The train doors opened and we stepped off onto the paved platform. We walked out of the station and into an extremely sunny street. I groaned and rubbed my purple eyes with the heel of my hands. "Goddamn light, burning my eyes off…"

Gajeel snorted and walked towards me. "Let's go Amnesia Girl, I ain't got all day."

He grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward. My hands immediately dropped from my face, even the one Gajeel was gripping. I twisted my body, pulling him towards me, and planted a solid kick into the taller man's chest. He was sent flying into a brick wall, letting go of my wrist, and left a small crater behind when he slid down to the ground. I swore under my breath and hurried over to where he was. He stood up, grinning, and dusted himself off. "Damn. Yer of some use after all. Ya got a pretty good kick, I like it."

I gestured at the cloak covering everything down to my ankles, secretly pleased at the praise. I could almost hear #2 snickering in the back of my head. "Probably would've been better without all of this restricting my movements. And that was pure reflex. I can't stand being grabbed or pulled, it's nothing personal."

My partner's grin grew wider as he hoisted his bag on his shoulder. "Damn. Amnesia Girl's got skills. I might let ya take a crack at the monster."

I chuckled and shook my head, ignoring the unwanted nickname. "Thanks, but I'll let the muscular magic man do all the fighting."

He started walking and gestured for me to follow him, this time checking to see if I actually did. "Muscular magic man?"

I walked alongside my companion, grinning up at him. "Yep. You seem to have powerful magic and well-defined muscles. Thus, muscular magic man."

He grinned back, crossing his arms. "Ya've been lookin' at me."

I shrugged, remembering what had happened in the train, both inside and outside of my head. I let #2 take the wheel momentarily, just for kicks, but warned her to behave if she ever wanted to open her mouth again. "I could answer with something witty, but I'll go with truth.** Yeah, I have**. **Kinda hard not to with that hair and your awesome piercings, not to forget your previously mentioned muscles and unusual clothes.** **However, _I _wasn't staring at you the whole train ride for no given reason."**

Gajeel was taken aback and stammered, but a short man came running out of the town hall before he could get a word out. The man's white wig was half his height, but he still only reached to my elbow. He pushed up his glasses, his gold cufflinks matching the frame. "You're the mages I asked for."

I nodded and extended my hand towards him. "Yes, and I suppose you're the mayor. My name's Kris and this is my partner for this mission, Gajeel."

We shook hands and I nudged my comrade to do the same. The mayor then led us to his office and pointed to two chairs in front of a large desk. The three of us sat down, and Gajeel pulled out the worn mission flyer. "We're here for the beast in the mountains, Fairy Tail guild."

The mayor nodded and set a large map on his desk. "I know, I only ever sent one request. We can hire townsfolk to do everything else. Oh, and I should warn you, the monster… Grew. It's a bit bigger than the flyer said. You'll get your 7 million jewels after you've slain the beast."

I looked at Gajeel then back at the mayor. "7 million jewels?"

The mayor looked up from unfolding the map. "Hm? Oh, yes. We raised the reward several years ago in hopes of attracting more talented people. It must not have reached your guild. Now, this is a map of the mountains in which the beast lives."

The small man took a marker and drew on the routes previous attackers had taken and put a cross where they were killed or driven back. We took the map and I thanked him for the both of us. We took a route that had already been used, as the attackers had been killed almost instantly. We passed the remains of a burnt soldier, whose sword I stole. The beast found us after a few minutes, swiping a house-sized paw at us. We both jumped back to avoid being cut in half, swearing. Gajeel tossed me his bag, which I caught easily. I gave a nod in his general direction and ran to an outcrop out of monster's range. That way, I could watch the fight and not risk being gored. I felt horrible for leaving my comrade to fight the thing alone, while I hid like a small child. I tried to convince myself I was doing him a favor by not getting in the way, but the sheer size difference between the beast and my partner made it difficult. I saw Gajeel's skin become scaly and silver, like if he had just put on a skin-tight, metal snakeskin outfit. While I shook that mental image out, he jumped onto a large cliff, getting higher to be able to hit the thing somewhere other than the leg. He drew his arm back and punched, his wrist and hand changing shape and extending to hit the thing in the stomach. The beast just grunted and turned towards the origin of the hit.

'I understand why so many failed, and I think we will too. This thing is too big for anyone to take alone, and even if I were to join in with some incredible magic, we would only have a very slim chance.'

Gajeel jumped to higher rocks, trying both to evade the beast and get closer to its head, an angered look on his face. He arched his back, took a deep breath, and put both hands in front of his mouth. "IRON DRAGON'S ROAR!"

He blew into his hands, generating a tornado-like spiral of tiny metal shard. It hit the monster square on, making it stagger, but barely left a scratch. I frowned, but not for the same reasons as my partner.

'Iron dragon's roar… Iron drago- holy shit. Shadow dragon. I'm a shadow dragon slayer!'

I resisted the imminent flashback, but welcomed the flow of information. I ran towards the beast, retaining a scream as my wounds stretched and tore open, all the while attracting and dodging the monster's attacks. Gajeel started to protest, but I was already in position. I put both arms in front of me, elbows bent, palms open and forming an X. "Shadow dragon's tail, RESTRAINT!"

I slammed my crossed palms on the ground. The only reason I hadn't done this from my hideaway was that the beast was too large for me to use my own shadow, especially from a distance. I was now at the edge of the monster's shadow, and used my magic to make it leap up and wrap all around, rendering him unable to move. I felt the monster fight back and quickly calculated how much time we had.

'Shit. We only have a few seconds. If only this goddamn thing wasn't so big and _feisty_. Then we'd actually have time to do something productive.'

I turned to my partner, flipping my hair out of my face. "Gajeel, this won't last long! I'll explain later, go!"

The dark-haired mage nodded and ran towards the thing, his arm morphing into a sword. He successfully cut the beast several times on his neck, but it did little to weaken the massive beast. If anything, it made it angry and fight harder to get free. I felt my muscles start to shake and a sheen of sweat form on my forehead. Then I remembered how much it hurt to get a bug in your eye, as that had happened on the way up the mountain. "Gajeel, give up on the body, it's too big for any of those attacks to work. Climb on the head and stab it through the eye."

My partner stopped attacking and looked at me like I was crazy. "You want me to do _what_?"

I sighed and looked at him, breathing hard. "Stab it through the eye. It's the weakest part of the body, and if you go far enough, you'll hit the brain. Instant death. Now go already, I can't hold much longer."

He shook his head and muttered something along the lines of 'crazy woman'. He jumped onto the thing's nose anyway, making a disgusted face, and extended his spear-like arm as he punched the beast right in the eye. The monster let out an ear-splitting roar and broke free from my restraints, throwing Gajeel to the ground, before crumbling. I wiped the sweat off my face, panting. I got up and followed my nose to my partner's unconscious body. He had rolled down the equivalent of several stories before reaching a flat, cliff-like area sticking out of the mountain. I laid him out to check for anything broken. He seemed to be okay, spare a large bump on the back of his head, gashes on his arms, small scratches on his face, and eyeball juice all over his right arm from punching the monster. I carefully removed his shirt, placing it flat on the ground, and put his studded belt on top of it. I ran my fingers over the smooth tan skin, blocking out #2's running commentary on the **yummilicious** muscles beneath it. I slowly pulled him up into a sitting position, praying for him not to wake up, and did the same to his back. I put him back down carefully and moved on to his lower half. I removed his boots and set them aside; then rolled up his white pants, deciding that he'd deal with anything above mid-thigh. I took out the supplies I had "borrowed" from Lucy and used nearby tree leaves to wipe off as much of the muck from his arm as I could. I then cleaned and wrapped his cuts, spare the ones on his face. I quickly but cautiously put his clothes back on, before he could wake up and kill me. Once done, I changed the bandage on my own thigh and re-stitched my middle, using my handy-dandy shadows, scrunching my nose at the bloody mess. Once done, I put the supplies back in my cloak and put the latter under his head, then walked back to the beast's body. I cut off its smallest claw, which was still bigger than me, and used my shadows to wrap around and carry it back to where my partner was, grabbing Gajeel's bag and my almost-forgotten sword on the way. I sat down near him, leaning against the claw. Out of sheer boredom, I shadow-stitched his clothes on a thread level, so the fabric looked like it had never been ripped. I heard him stir a few minutes later and looked up from inspecting a burn on my forearm. He sat up and rubbed the back of his head, wincing. I looked at him, straightening my back. "You okay You've been unconscious for a while."

He glared at me, still rubbing his head. "I'm _fine._ And what the hell is that thing?"

I stood up and dusted myself off. "That 'thing' would be one of the monster's claws. We need some proof we actually killed it."

Gajeel stood up and threw my cloak at me, dusting himself off as well. "Ain't the fact we're alive proof enough?"

I shook my head and lightly tossed him his bag, putting my cloak on. "No. We could've pretended to go into the mountains and staged your injuries."

He frowned and sniffed one of his bandaged arms. "Speakin' of, did ya do this?"

I nodded and picked up the claw with my shadow again. "Mhm. You were pretty cut up. It'd take a regular mage weeks to heal, but for us… It'll be gone by next Monday."

He raised an eyebrow at me, putting his arm down. "Ya do know it's Saturday, right? Monday is in two days."

I put my sword on my shoulder and started going down the mountain. "Yep. My point exactly. Good as new by Monday."

I heard his footsteps behind me, indicating a limp he was trying hard to suppress. We walked in silence for about 15 minutes, during which Gajeel and I both silently swore and took sharp breaths when we stepped the wrong way. A little further down the road, a bird flew away above us, making several small rocks fall on me. One of them hit my bandaged thigh, making me let out a small cry of pain and bite my lip. I heard him curse a few seconds later, as one of the rocks slid out from under his foot. "Alright, ya said ya'd explain later, it's later, so talk."

I mentally chuckled at his inability to admit he's hurt and shrugged. "Sure. What do you want me to explain?"

My companion angrily cut a branch out of his way, the wood thudding on the rocks and rolling down the slope. "How about why ya can use dragon slayer magic. Or any magic, for that matters."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I though that was obvious. I saw your magic, and it reminded me of mine. 'Iron dragon's roar' and 'shadow dragon's roar' are very close."

I heard him chuckle behind me, his footsteps faltering a bit. "So I _was _right. The old man will never hear the end of this."

I turned my head to look at him over my shoulder. "Right about what?"

Gajeel's already present grin widened to reveal prominent canines, trademark of dragon slayers. "Yer magic. I told the old man ya smelled like a dragon slayer, just didn't know what kind. He said me that was unlikely, since it's lost magic and we already have three in our guild, countin' me, blah, blah, blah. Told me to keep my mouth shut until we knew for sure."

I faced forward again, as not to trip and make a fool out of myself. "He never said anything about that. Although, that would explain Mirajane's refusal to let you go alone. Ignoring the fact she was right and you'd probably be dead by now. How are your wounds, by the way?"

I heard him growl angrily, his limp still half-masked. "They're _fine_. Such little cuts can't affect me. Worry about your own damn problems."

I sighed and shook my head. "True, my injuries are way worse than yours, but I _am_ a dragon slayer. You might fool the average person, but I can hear you limp, as well as swear when you move the wrong way. And you probably hear me take sharp breaths when I pull my wounds, as well as that little squeak earlier when a rock hit my thigh. But there's nothing wrong with that, especially since they fucking hurt like hell."

My companion huffed, sounding annoyed, but I noticed he no longer hid his limp. I smiled and stopped as we reached the base of the mountain, letting a large group of farm animals finish crossing. I felt a tug in the hand holding the sword and heard a crunch right next to my ear. I immediately turned my head, only to come face-to-face with Gajeel, who was biting off part of the blade. I turned the rest of my body, resting my free hand on my hip. "Gajeel! Don't eat other people's weapons without asking!"

I sighed and tossed him the rest of the sword anyway. The last of the animals passed and we walked into town, the villagers' stares divided between my shadow holding a giant claw mid-air and my partner chewing on a sword. We walked back to the town hall, not bothering to knock as we entered the mayor's office. I left the claw in the hall, as it wouldn't fit through the doorway. The mayor looked up from his papers, surprised and unbelieving, and pointed at us. "You. You're back. I was sure you'd r-"

I interrupted him, gritting my teeth in anger but my voice calm as always. "We'd what? And I would _not_ recommend saying we got cold feet and ran."

The small man gulped, the blood draining from his face. "I- we heard the monster's roar. And- and we thought it'd eaten you. Um… I hope you won't take offense if I ask for proof. We've had people pretend before. No- not that I'm saying you are!"

I relaxed my jaw, still angry, and nodded. "Yeah. Proof's in the hall." I went out of the office, giving Gajeel an 'I-told-you-so' look. He rolled his eyes and followed me out. The mayor did too and looked at what I was standing in front of. His mouth dropped open, his little gold glasses sliding down his nose. "You really did it… We're free from the beast!"

He ran up to me and jumped, attaching himself around my neck. I stiffened, every fiber of my being wanting to rip the small man off of me. I turned my head and gave Gajeel a panicked look. He was surprised, then remembered and quickly nodded. He walked over to us, cleared his throat, and tapped the man on the shoulder. "Hey, do ya mind lettin' go of my partner and getting' us the reward?"

The mayor dropped down, blushing, and pushed up his glasses. "Oh of course, right away. I'm sorry for jumping on you, miss."

He ran into his office, leaving Gajeel and I alone in the hall. I sighed in relief, my muscles relaxing. "Thanks. I was about to rip him off of me and throw him into the nearest wall."

He snorted, leaning against said wall, a smirk on his face. "What was that you said about yer people skills?"

I glared at him half-heartedly, feeling a light color rush to my face. "That was before he suddenly attached himself to me. You have first-hand knowledge of how that makes me feel. And as for earlier, he believed we ran; I could see it in his face. I can't stand people thinking I'd do something as cowardly as run. I would sooner get eaten than be called a coward, to be thought of as weak."

His smirk morphed into a grin, and he walked up to me, putting a hand on my head. "I like ya. Seems we're on the same page when it comes to a lot of things. Ya wanna be my full-time partner?"

I smiled up at him, my purple eyes meeting his red ones. "Yeah, I like the idea. That way, we'll have someone to turn to for team missions."

We shook hands and turned towards the office door when we heard a dragging sound and grunts come from behind it. I opened the door to see the mayor trying to push a chest out of the closet-like storage room. I used my shadow to pick up the wooden box, as effortlessly as if it was a balloon. The small man cleared his throat, pushing his little gold glasses up. "That would be your reward. We apologize if it's inconvenient, but the whole village gave their own money to fund this. You are forever welcome in this town, and your names shall be engraved in the hall of honors. Thank you again."

I nodded at the man, bringing the chest over to us. "I was just a job, but thank you. Send a request our way if you ever need anything."

I started exiting the office but stopped and turned my head back towards the man. "Oh, by the way, there's enough meat on the monster to feed your village for a year. You might want to send someone up there before it rots."

Once in the hallway, Gajeel tapped the claw I was picking up. "Do ya really have to take this?"

I mocked-glared at him, a hand on my hip. "I wouldn't if _someone_ hadn't eaten my sword. Besides, we can add it to the Fairy Tail trophy room."

He rolled his eyes and walked out ahead of me. We arrived at the train station within minutes, at which point Gajeel headed for the ticket booth. I sat on a nearby bench, putting my stuff down with a sigh.

'I feel like we already did this…'

I heard him start arguing with the vendor, something about time limits. I groaned and rolled my eyes. I gathered my items and walked over to my partner. "Gajeel, can't you buy tickets without arguing with the vendor?"

He started to answer, but was cut off by the man behind the counter. "Gajeel? As in Kris and Gajeel? Are you two be the young couple that vanquished the mountain beast?"

I looked at my companion, then back at the vendor. "Well, we're not a_ couple_, just partners. But yeah, that's us. Why?"

He put a hand over his mouth, looking embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just… Well you two looked so… _right_ together. Oh, but here are the tickets you wanted, all for free. Thanks a bunch for killing the monster."

I accepted the tickets and went to sit on a nearby bench, setting the claw and chest behind me. Gajeel followed and leaned against a pillar, still to proud to share a bench.

'I swear, it's like someone did copy and paste on this morning, only with minor changes… Lazy-ass author.'

Ignoring the sound of the wall crumbling in the distance, we watched people walk by and stare at us, some even stopping to take pictures. After five minutes of this, I groaned and put my head in my hands. "Is it always like this when you save a village from man-eating demonic beasts?"

He chuckled and grinned. "Nah. They sometimes have a banquet, maybe even a festival. I always manage to bail before getting' dragged into those idiotic things."

I groaned again and leaned back to stare at the station's ceiling. I must've dozed off, as I was jerked awake by the train's metal wheels grinding to a stop. I looked at Gajeel, who nodded in confirmation. I gathered my things and stood up, rubbing the back of my neck. I told him to go and take a seat, as I had a quick thing to take care of. He handed me a ticket and warned me not to be late. I shook my head at him and headed towards the luggage cart at the back of the train. A red-faced young man was loading suitcases in the compartment, barely making a dent in the large pile besides him. I walked over, smiling. "Hey, I know we're total strangers but… Umm, could you do me a favor?"

He looked up, surprised. "Oh, yeah. Sure. What do you want?"

I gave a small chuckle, pointing over my shoulder at the claw behind me. "Could you let me put that in there? I can't bring it in the train."

His eyes widened, jaw dropping open. "Wow. Yeah. Sure."

I waved the claw into the compartment and smiled at the young man. I nodded at the pile of luggage behind him. "Want me to help you with that?"

He nodded, his eyes still wide. I chuckled and deployed several shadow-tails to carry the suitcases into the cart. The pile was gone within seconds. I waved at him and ran towards the train doors. I flashed my ticket at the controller and went into the train, my shadows still holding the chest. I stepped into the main isle as the doors closed, barely making it. I sighed and headed to where Gajeel was sitting, both his hair and distinctive smell singling him out. I put the chest down and slid in next to it, sighing again. My companion raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face. "Could ya be any later?"

I narrowed my eyes at the mage. "Yes. I could've had to dive in through the closing doors."

He snorted a laugh, probably imagining things. I rolled my eyes and turned to look out the window. I was immediately shocked at my reflection. Not a hair was out of place, but my purple eyes now had a slit-like pupil, exactly like Gajeel's. When my mouth dropped open at this, I noticed I was also sporting a beautiful pair of fang-like canines. I turned to my fellow dragon slayer and pointed at one of my eyes. "When did this happen?"

He looked up from inspecting his glove, which had a small rip. "Hm? Oh hey, those are new. When did ya do that?"

I groaned and put my face in my hand, elbow resting on the table. "You are of _no_ help."

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_1. FINALLY DONE *breathes heavily* Holy canolies, it's 3 times the size of the previous chapters. 3 TIMES! Oh but I loved writing this so much... Be glad I am such an enthusiastic fangirl. Yes, Kris broke the fourth wall. I love it when they do that :3 __I'm already __mentally __planning what'll happen next, b__ut don't expect anything for at least another week or four._

_2. I did not forget "Demon Partners", I've just been wrapped up in this. And regents... Damn New York State._

_3. I want to thank the two people who voted on my poll, you are amazing :D Free story and a virtual cookie for whoever claims the already-existing votes or votes then comes back to claim the new one! Send me a message w/ the pairing (any serie, books or anime) or leave it in the review section. If I don't know it, I'll learn and do it anyway. *Highly motivated*_

_4. Alright, I'm going to go write more stuff. Author, AWAAAAY~_


	5. Attack of The Evil Sluts and Mrs Redfox

**Dragon Slayer's Brain Damage  
****Ch. 5**

**Attack of The Evil Sluts and Mrs. Redfox**

Gajeel chuckled and pushed my head up with one well-placed finger. "I'm just messin' with ya. Ya've been like that since gettin' yer magic back."

I sighed and straightened, half-glaring at him. "Thanks. However, I do _not _recommend 'messin' with me when I'm tired. Not a healthy life choice."

He leaned back and crossed him arms, grinning. "Well, well. Amnesia Girl's got spunk."

I gritted my teeth, full-on glaring now. "And stop calling me that. First few times were okay, but joke's over. I have a name, use it."

He leaned forward, putting his face right up to mine. "What if I don't wanna?"

I cocked my head to the side, and gave him an 'are-you-fucking-kidding-me' look. "Excuse me, who replaced my partner with a four-year-old?"

His grin fell, replace by a sour look and teeth grinding. "What'd ya say Amnesia Girl?"

My look fell too, anger now rolling off of me in waves. "You're acting like a four-year-old. And I told you to stop calling me that, Metal Head."

He uncrossed his arms, gripping the edge of the table. "What'd ya call me?"

I did the same, shoving my face in his. "An immature METAL HEAD! Would you have preferred crappy tin man, screws for brain, or walking car scraps?"

He tch'ed and stood up, visibly angry. "I'm gonna get some air before I do somethin' stupid. Don't ya dare follow me."

He walked away, muttering insults under his breath. The other passengers stared at us and whispered. I put my chin in my hand and made small circles on the table with my free index finger, feeling guilty.

'I shouldn't have said that… He might be obnoxious, but he's still my partner.'

'**But he TOTALLY deserved it!'**

I mentally glared at my split personality, #2.

'And how?'

'**Well, he… Was being immature! And wouldn't stop calling us Amnesia Girl!'**

'That's not a good reason.'

'**Oh come on. You didn't even say anything that bad.'**

'Yeah, but they would only work on him. They're custom-made. I think that makes a big difference.'

'**Well, he seemed pissed. But not hurt.'**

'Like he'd show it if he was. And I'll point out he was more mature than us in leaving.'

'… **Fine. I give up. That was uncalled for and we feel bad. We're tired and he annoyed us, so we spoke without thinking.'**

I gave a mini-smile in victory and put my head on my arm, both on the table. I quickly lost consciousness; exhausted by the day's events and the fact I'd barely gotten any sleep the night before. I woke up some time later, when my partner's distinctive scent came back. I looked up, not in any way awake, and rubbed one of my eyes. "Sorry Gajeel… I'm tired and you got on my nerves. And every time you call me that, it reminds me of my failure."

He smiled and patted my head softly. "I know. I do that too; don't worry about it. Besides, I kinda deserved it. And being amnesiac isn't a failure on your part. Ya couldn't have stopped it if you tried. Now go back to sleep, I'll wake ya when it's time to go."

I nodded sleepily, my eyes closing again.

'He's nice…'

'**Yeah… We ****totally ****like him.'**

I passed out before any other thought could form. I slept through the rest of the train ride, unaware of the mage staring at me from across the table, a small smile on his face. A warm hand shaking my shoulder woke me up. "Don't make me carry ya out."

I groaned but sat up anyway. "I'm conscious, no need to do anything."

I created and controlled a shadow-tail for the chest with my left hand and covered a huge yawn with my right. I stood up and followed my dark-haired companion, stretching as we walked. I headed towards the luggage cart, pulling Gajeel along. I turned to face the taller man as we waited. "Thanks."

He looked down at me, his eyebrow piercings shooting up, and a light color appeared on his face. "For what?"

I stifled a laugh at his expression and laced my fingers behind my back. "For waking me up, what else?"

His piercings came back down and shrugged. "I told ya I would. Although, ya didn't seem quite conscious for that part."

I chuckled, kicking a stray rock. "That's an understatement. And I meant how you woke me up. There are a lot of ways you could've done it violently, or crudely, but you didn't. So, thanks."

He nodded and cleared his throat, then pointed at the luggage cart. I retrieved the unnecessarily large claw and followed Gajeel to wherever he was going. I walked silently behind him, looking around to make a mental map of the city. As I was distracted, I didn't notice he had stopped and turned around. I walked right into him, my body pressing against him from shoulder to knee. I turned my head towards him, my eyes leveled with his mouth. I jumped back, feeling my face heat up. He growled, a light color in his cheeks. "Watch where ye're goin' Bubble Brain. Let's go, and leave anything taller than me outside."

I grumbled at the new nickname, but obeyed anyway. We walked into the bank, its white and gold tiles gleaming. Gajeel walked to on of the five counters and asked to make a split deposit. I followed, still holding the chest. He suddenly turned towards me, as if just remembering something. "Hey, Bubble Brain, ya don't have an account, do ya?"

I glared, not pleased with the nickname. "No. Even if I did, it wouldn't be in Magnolia."

He rolled his crimson eyes and turned back to the man behind the counter. "Forget the deposit, we gotta make an account for her first."

He nodded and looked at me. "Okay, miss. I'm going to need your name."

Gajeel answered with "Bubble Brain", for which I smacked his chest with the back of my hand. He chuckled and put his hands up in surrender. I rolled my purple eye and turned back to the teller. "Kristal. K-R-I-S-T-A-L."

He wrote it down and cleared his throat. "Your _full _name. As in first _and_ last."

I looked at my partner, who had moved to lean against the wall. He understood immediately and groaned. "For fuck's sake Bubble Brain… Use mine. R-E-D-F-O-X."

I shrugged and nodded at the banker. He wrote it down, along with my description and approximate age. I let him roll my fingers in ink to get a print, mentally groaning at the future stains. He put the paperwork away and turned to my partner. "You wanted to make a deposit, Mr. Redfox?"

He peeled himself off the wall and faced the counter. "Yeah, mission reward. Put 65% on my account and the rest on her's."

The teller nodded and wrote something on a yellow slip. I gave Gajeel a questioning look, which he completely ignored. I brought the chest to the counter and removed the shadows. The wood thudded on the granite, the coins inside jingling. The banker took it with difficulty and stuck the yellow slip on it. He straightened and smiled. "Alright, where will you two be the rest of the day?"

I looked at my partner then back at cashier. "Fairy Tail, most likely."

He nodded and wrote it on a blue post-it. "Mrs. Redfox, we'll send you your card and safe key by the end of the day."

Gajeel snickered at the name, and I thumped on the back of the head as we walked out. "Metal Head, if I'm Mrs. Redfox, you're my husband. Which also means I can move in to wherever you live, and you can't kick me out."

He stopped snickering and considered that a few seconds, then broke out in a lewd grin as we stopped outside the bank doors. "And if you're my wife, then you can't object to this."

He pulled me to him, one hand on my breasts, the other on my butt, and his groin pressed against my tailbone. I tilted my head up to glare at him, only succeeding in making him laugh his **adorable** "gihihihi". I mentally smacked #2 (yes, it's possible) and elbowed my partner in the side. "Perv. You could at least control your hormones until we're away from people."

He chuckled and let go. A small but dense crowd had gathered around the claw, and no one would bulge enough to let me through. I growled and swung myself onto the roof. I walked on the red tiles until I was directly above the monster talon and hopped right onto its tip, positioning shadows under my feet as not to get skewered. I looked down at the crowd and took a deep breath. "Alright! Back it up, I need space to move this thing."

Most did as told, happily or not, spare a pink spandex-clad blonde. She stayed where she was and put a hand on her hip, cocking it to the side. "I ain't gonna do shit. Who the hell do you think you are?"

I slid down and landed right in front of her. "The _owner_ of this thing. Now back. The. Fuck. Up."

She looked me up and down, raising an eyebrow. "A prude like you? Please."

I removed my cloak in one swift movement, letting it drop to the ground. She eyed my revealing and tight clothes, the red-stained bandage around my thigh, and the stitched-up claw marks on my exposed stomach. She snorted, looking back into my eyes. "Okay, fine, maybe you're not a prude. My rack is _still_ bigger than yours. And what's with the… bandages? Did your boyfriend try to beat the freakiness out of you?"

I growled, my abnormally long canines showing. "He's my partner, not my boyfriend, and he didn't do that. And I am _not_ a freak."

She sneered, pleased at having stuck a nerve. "You are totally a freak. I mean, look at you. Slit pupils, pointed teeth, wearing all black? All you're missing is a few piercings and died hair. And I'm sure your _boyfriend _noticed it and wasn't too happy_. _Frankly, who would be?"

I growled again, my hands curling into fists. "My _partner_ has those things too, except he also sports dozens of piercings, his eyes are red, and his spiky hair is longer than mine. If I'm a freak, so is he. Now would you stop calling him my boyfriend?"

She shoved her face in mine, sneering again. "Make me, you little _bitch._"

I almost punched her, but stopped when Gajeel appeared behind the pink-clad blonde, towering over her and visibly angry. "Did ya just call my partner a freak and a bitch in the same 30 seconds?"

She turned and gave him a once over. Liking what she saw, she put a perfectly manicured hand on his chest and purred. "Well, well. Little Miss Freak's partner is a lot hotter than expected. How about _I_ be your partner for the day, I'm better in the bedroom-"

She was cut off when Gajeel grabbed her throat and lifted her of the ground with one hand. He snarled, his eyes flashing with pure hatred. "What the fuck did you just say? Don't try to bring Kris down to your level; she's in an entirely different category. You couldn't compare on your best day, you whore."

The blonde clawed at his hand, her face slowly turning purple. I walked over to him and put a hand over his bicep. "Gajeel. Let her go, she's just a dumb bitch with no sense of self-preservation."

He growled and dropped her, looking like it left a bad taste in his mouth. I looked down at the crying pink mess, my expression cold. "Ever come near me again and I won't stop him."

I wrapped shadows around the claw with one arm and pick up my cloak with the other. I put it on my shoulder and walked back towards Gajeel, stopping next to the blonde on the way. "And our relationship isn't sexual you single-minded whore. We kick ass and make a living off of it."

I walked away, taking my stuff and partner with me. He growled, his hands balled into fists. "Ya should have let me kill her."

I shook my head, my anger dissipating. "I wanted to oh-so-much, but these damn laws… Anyway, thanks for everything. Huh, I seem to be doing a lot of thanking today... Don't get used to it, Metal Head."

He raised an eyebrow, relaxing a bit. "Everythin'?"

I nodded, giving a small grin. "Everything. Letting me use your name, giving me a bigger cut, _and_ protecting me from evil sluts. Why did you do any of that?"

He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well… You needed a last name and having the same name makes it easier to split rewards. You did more work than planned, so you should get a bigger cut. But for the evil sluts… I don't know. I got really angry for some reason. I just wanted her to stop talkin' about ya like that."

I noted his light blush, but decided to do him a favor and ignore it. I grinned at him and shoved him lightly with my hip. "Well, thanks anyway. I'll have to make it up to you."

He grinned back and put an arm around my shoulders, his forearm resting on my hand and cloak. "Damn right."

We reached the guild a few seconds later, Gajeel kicking the doors open. The loud mages inside quieted a bit and looked over to the two of us. I grinned and threw my free arm up towards the ceiling. "I'm still alive!"

I heard Cana yell "Pay up!" in the back, the cheering of the other guild members almost covering it. There were several mages I didn't recognize; a pink-haired teen, a half-naked mage, an armored red-head, and a blue cat with wings. The pink-haired one ran toward me, wearing an exited grin. He made a face at Gajeel and started sniffing me. "You smell like a dragon slayer! And that crappy metal bastard… Are you? What kind are you? Were you raised by a dragon? Have you seen Igneel? You don't smell-"

My foot interrupted him as I sent him flying to the other side of the guild. "DON'T SNIFF ME YOU WEIRDO!"

I turned to my partner, who was laughing his ass off. "Who's the kid? He reeks of fire, brimstone, and dragon slayer magic."

He straightened, holding his stomach, his other arm still around me. "Resident flame-brain, Natsu Dragneel. Welcome to Fairy Tail."

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_1. I am in complete and senseless love with Gajeel's laugh. I don't know why, and I probably never will. Gihihihi_

_2. I had the first part of this done for a while, and finished it in a sudden burst of inspiration. I hadn't planned on Mrs. Pink Spandex's scene to be so long, but I had to make it more believable. I hope I succeeded. It was edited several times.  
_

_3. I honestly don't like Natsu much. He's annoying and the serie focuses on him too much. I only keep him to give Lucy a boyfriend when I keep Gajeel to myself, but Lisanna takes the pink-haired slayer away most of the time so... I'm going to be a bit mean to him, but he'll live. No promises about Natsu Jr._

_4. Mrs. Redfox! Yeah! Just wait until the delivery the teller promised ;)_

_5. They all get drunk next chapter! Yaaaay booooooze... And she'll- nah I'll let you imagine things until next update._

_6. Please review... I'm a poor, unloved, fangirl with low self-esteem. I love it when you subscribe/favorite, as it tells me you read this, but reviews make me feel good and do little happy-kicks. I'll take anything! Praise, confessions of love, helpful criticism, not-so-helpful criticism, OOC monster alerts, plot hole signs, Grammar Nazism, trolls, flames, threats of death, and anonymous reviews. PLEASE T^T with little Fairy Tail chibis on top. ChibiGajeel threatens to eat my hard drive if you don't._


	6. Celebrate Cana Style

**Dragon Slayer's Brain Damage  
Ch. 6**

**Celebrate Cana-Style**

I shrugged and ducked out from under Gajeel's arm, then walked over to Lucy, unconsciously bringing the claw with me. I threw my cloak on the counter and sat on the nearest stool, crossing my legs. "So, what's new?"

She pointed at something behind me, her brown eyes wide open. "That! What on earth are you carrying and how are you carrying it?"

I turned to see the talon, still suspended mid-air by my shadow-tail. I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. "Oh… That… I forgot I was carrying it. Well, turns out I'm a shadow dragon slayer, so I'm using my newly remembered magic.

Lucy looked down and nodded guiltily. "That's what the master thought, but we weren't allow to tell you. I wanted to, really… So, what is it?"

I grinned and patted the claw as I set it down, turning back towards Lucy. "_This_ is a little something I cut off from the beast after basically saving Gajeel's ass."

He growled from his dark corner across the guild. "Ya did _not _save my ass!"

I chuckled and swiveled in my seat again to face him. "Giving credit where credit is due, you _did_ kill the monster. But I saved your ass for total annihilation and you know it!"

He muttered something and went back to chewing on a wrench, the rest of the guild drowning him out. The read-headed girl I had seen upon entering walked up to us, shortcake in hand, and tapped the claw. "My monster's horn was bigger. This is really nothing new."

I looked at her and extended a hand. "That's actually the smallest claw I could find. I'm Kristal, by the way, but I prefer Kris."

She shook my hand and smiled, her armor clinking. "Well then, I apologize. This is rather impressive. I'm Erza Scarlet, call me Erza. You're the new girl, right? Amnesiac and Gajeel's fist willing partner."

I snorted and leaned back against the counter. "Yep. And given Metal Head's attitude, I'm not surprised."

I heard him shout an indignant "Hey!" from the back of the guild. I chuckled and yelled in his general direction. "I tease because I care~"

He growled and crossed his arms. "Shut the hell up Bubble Brain!"

I scowled at him and crossed my arms too. "I have a name, you walking tin can."

He grinned and leaned back in his chair, pleased with his success in annoying me. "And I ain't gonna use it unless ya make me!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed, moving the black strand of hair back in front of my iris. Erza had moved to sit next to Lucy, and was now eating her cake. I turned back to the two of them, uncrossing my arms. "So, we have several hours to kill, any ideas?"

The words had barely left my mouth, that Cana ran up and shoved a tall glass in my hand. "GET DRUNK TO CELEBRATE!"

I chuckled and turned towards Cana, who had sat down between Lucy and me. "Cana, it's… what? Five or six in the afternoon? The sun hasn't even began to set!"

She grinned and chugged her beer in two seconds flat. "It's never too early to get drunk. Now go!"

I shrugged and downed my drink too, the liquid warming my insides pleasantly. Cana took the glass back and put it in the sink on the other side of the counter. "So? How do you feel?"

I shrugged, leaning against the counter again. "Pleasantly warm, probably a bit buzzed."

Her grin widened, half hidden by her glass. "You pass the lightweight test! That glass was gin watered down with tequila. One of these, and Natsu's drunk. A couple more and he's out for the night."

Said mage stopped bickering with the shirtless teen a few tables over, and ran up to me, a small flame in his mouth. "FIGHT ME!"

I sighed and uncrossed my legs, my right foot continuing the arch until it was at an 90° with the other, then put my right hand on the stool seat for leverage as I kicked Natsu in the face and sent him flying again. The whole thing took about .25 seconds. I put my foot down and straightened; now standing. The blue cat flew by me, yelling something. I sat down and scrunched my nose. "Flame-brain reeks. Besides, you should be able to take both a drink and a kick without ending up on the ground."

Both Cana and Erza laughed and spoke at the same time. "We're going to get along just fine!"

Lucy gasped and rushed over to see if the fire slayer was okay. The shirt-less teen he had previously been arguing with came over and grinned. "Heh, not bad. I'm Grey. You're Kris, right?"

I grinned back and nodded, then laughed as he freaked out when both other girls pointed out he was missing clothes. I turned to Erza and pointed at Grey with my thumb. "Is he always like this?"

She nodded, starting another slice of cake. "He's got a bad stripping habit. And the blue thing is Natsu's cat, Happy. All the other slayers have one too. Well, except you... But yeah, Grey spends most of his time half-naked."

I chuckled and grabbed the shimmery purple drink Cana was handing me. "Meh, I don't think it's that bad a habit. Awkward and inappropriate at times, but at least he's pretty hot."

The other girls burst out in laughter and I sipped my new drink, a devilish grin on my face. The fluid was thicker and smooth, it's flavor enjoyable but not specific. The rest of the glass quickly followed. I felt warm again, and my head was filled with a pleasant buzz. I looked over at Cana, who was grinning evilly at me. "Damn, that packs a punch. I think I'll lay off of those for a while."

She laughed and downed another beer. "You're a worthy drinking opponent, I wonder if it's you or your magic. Natsu's a lightweight though, so it might just be you…"

I suddenly sat up straight, thinking of something. "Girls! We should totally get Gajeel drunk! 1. It would answer your question, 2. I wonder what kind of drunk he is, and 3. It'll be funny as hell either way."

She nodded and pointed toward the man. "No prob, but _you're_ handling him."

I grinned and practically jumped out of my seat. I quickly made my way to him and slammed my hand on his table. "You're coming with me and getting drunk before the night is over."

He shook his head, leaning back in his chair. "No way. I only get drunk in the safety of my own home. And there's nothin' ya can do to change that."

I grinned evilly and raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

I wrapped shadows around his ankles and flipped him upside-down. He scowled and crossed his arms, his spiky hair still managing to look amazing**ly sexy**. I walked back to my seat, keeping my partner upside-down and in mid-air. Lucy had come back and all three girls were staring at me in disbelief. I shrugged and lifted my head to look at my hostage, still standing. "I'll let you down when you agree to take part in our celebration."

His scowl deepened, the blood starting to rush to his head. "To celebrate what?"

I looked at Cana, who shrugged, and did the same. "New member, first mission, getting my magic back, you not killing me… Do we really need an excuse to get drunk?"

He snorted and shook his head. "You're _already_ drunk."

I held up a finger, and not the one I would normally use. "Pleasantly buzzed. My common sense is only slightly altered. And I _will_ have you drunk by the end of the day!"

A man at the guild's door interrupted his reply. He wore the blue hat of mail carriers, and held a small package. "Excuse me, I'm looking for... Mrs. Redfox? Is she here?"

I dropped Gajeel, trusting him to land correctly, and sauntered over to the mailman. "That's me. You're from the bank, right?"

He nodded and handed me the small package after a quick identity check. I walked back to the group, ignoring the stares. I put the package in my cloak and plopped back onto my seat, grinning. "A few more drinks and that would've been an interesting scene."

Lucy looked at my partner, who had grudgingly taken a seat next to me, then back at me. "_Mrs._ Redfox? Is there something I should know about?"

I chuckled and gave Gajeel a light pat. "Not really, he just let me use his last name for my bank account."

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "That's unexpectedly nice."

He grinned at her, turning his whole body towards us. "Well, it does have its perks."

On this he pulled onto his lap, crossing his arms over my chest and resting his head on my shoulder. I growled and licked his ear piercings, the cold metal strangely enjoyable on my tongue. He groaned and straightened, lowering one of his arms to wrap around my stomach and using the other to wipe his ear. I grinned smugly at him, unaware of Lucy whispering to the other girls. "Look at them… I think we're witnessing the beginning of something here."

I squirmed in an attempt to get free, but only succeeded in sinking further into his lap. Still unknown to me, Cana nodded at Lucy, disbelief clear on her face. "I would've never guessed it with _him_. But I think you're right."

Gajeel wrapped his other arm around my middle and pulled me into his chest, licking the underside of my jaw in revenge. I swatted at his head, our position making it difficult for me to hit him. Erza nodded at the other two girls, a serious look on their faces. "We must keep this to ourselves until they realize it on their own. Absolutely _no_ interfering."

I stopped trying to land a hit looked at them. "Keep what to yourselves?"

Lucy smiled at me, although taken off-guard. "The fact that Mirajane and Freed are completely in love with each other."

I shrugged, not really caring. "Okay. I don't who that 'Freed' guy is, but why not. Where's Mira anyway?"

Cana chugged yet another beer. "Storage room, doing the inventory."

She put her glass down and looked at me eagerly. "Hey Kris, how about a drinking contest?"

I pinched Gajeel's thigh and raised an eyebrow at her. "What kind of drink and what kind of contest?"

She grinned widely, both at my answer and my pinching. "Beer, of course. As for the rules, drink 'till you drop. First on the ground loses."

I leaned forward, grinning as well. "You're on. Let's go get the barrels."

She stood up and I hopped off my partner's lap, who was finally willing to let go. Cana waltzed into the storage room, announcing we'd be taking several barrels for a drink-off. Mirajane turned around, a hand on her hip. "And why would I let you do that?"

Cana pointed at me, a smug grin on her face. Mirajane looked surprised then sighed, although she smiled at me. "Welcome back. Just this time, I won't count how many barrels you drink. Go and celebrate our new member."

I thanked her and helped Cana take out a few dozen barrels. We stacked them next to a table, and Cana went to get us glasses. I stood in front Gajeel and pointed a finger at him. "You sir, are going to participate in the contest. I'll hang you upside down if you don't and this time, I _will_ be drunk."

He rolled his eyes and followed me to the table. Cana chuckled and set a third glass down. A few of the other guild members gathered around, both to watch and refill our glasses. Lucy sighed and took the last seat, to keep track and act as a referee. "Alright, bottoms up!"

Cana, Gajeel, and I did as told, downing our drinks. Five minutes later, the pleasant buzzing in my head came back and two other guild members joined us. Cana asked for a time-out and handed several large bottles of vodka to the helpers. "Let's spice it up! Two bottles per barrel, double it in 30 minutes!"

The rest of the night was kind of a blur.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_1. I wanted to clear up possible confusion. I harbor a deep love for yaoi, but that does not mean my story will have any maleXmale (or femaleXfemale) pairings. Unless someone requests a specific pairing or mentions one I really like, there will not be any. I'll take any opinions, both positive and negative, on this in Review and PMs._

_2. I edited Ch. 4 to add 3 hours to the train ride, making it about 6 pm, instead of 11am. I didn't want to have them drink that early, and ran out of ideas to fill the day. I went through from Ch. 4 all the way to this one and timed the events, so I hope you'll appreciate my effort and ignore any missing hours or the fact they were intoxicated that early. Thanks for reading either way :)_

_3. That took longer than I thought... But it made for a good ending :D Just wait until the next morning, THE MOTHER OF ALL HANGOVERS and that thing I almost told you last A/N. (Hint: it's obvious and stereotypical)_

_4. I don't necessarily support Mirajane X Freed (Fried), but I need a quick and innocent pairing for Lucy to mention. And I am probably not bringing Luxus back, so unless anyone has a better pairing, Mira stays with Freed._

_5. (Jashin, these are long, hope I'm not boring you) I have a total of 8 hours of car ahead of me, as well as waiting around for official shit to happen, so you might get that next chapter pretty soon. As for those who are wondering, I have to go the French Embassy to renew my visa/passport thing and not get deported. I would like not getting deported. Enough with the talking, I'm gonna go._


	7. The Mother of All Hangovers

**Dragon Slayer's Brain Damage  
****Ch. 7**

**The Mother of All Hangovers**

'Oh dear god, I think there's an anvil on my head.'

When that's you first thought in the morning, you know you're in for a bad day. I became more aware of the rest of my body, trying to ignore the pounding in my skull. I was on my stomach, laying on something from head to hip, and there an arm on my back holding me there. Then the something I was on moved, as if it was breathing. I took a deep breath and was rewarded with the familiar scent of metal and fresh rain.

'#2… That's…'

'**Gajeel's scent. We slept on him.'**

I opened my eyes, squinting at the light. All I could see was tan flesh, a bit of gauze, and the foot of a table.

'**And he's not wearing a shirt.'**

'… I can tell.'

I slowly extracted myself from under his arm and stood up. My partner was sprawled on the floor, missing his tunic/shirt thing and belt. His visible bandages were slightly bloody in some spots and the rips in his pants were back. I was only missing my cloak, which I hadn't been wearing when we'd started drinking anyway. I took a look around the room, holding my head with one hand. The off-white walls were covered in maps, mission flyers, and the occasional daggers. There was a table next to me, covered with a large map and paper clippings. The whole room had random pieces of metal laying around.

'Alright, recap. We got drunk.'

'**Woke up on our shirtless partner.'**

'In his house.'

'**And we have a killer hangover.'**

I looked around again, searching for a door. There were six of them, all covered by the same things as the wall except one. I assumed they were the front door, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a laundry or storage room, and a kitchen. I could hear clinking from the one on the far left and headed for that. I covered my eyes and groaned a hiss as soon as I opened it, the light going straight to my head and bouncing around painfully. I heard a deep chuckle and footsteps. "Hold on, I'll shut the blinds."

There was the sound of shades dropping, and the light dimmed. I removed my hand, sighing. The small kitchen was clean, all in off-white and yellows, the metal confined to a bin on the counter. Near the window, behind a small table, was a cat taller than my 5 '7". Muscular and black with a scar near his eye, he wore pants and bandages around his stomach. I took a few steps in and closed the door softly behind me. "Thanks. I'll assume you're Gajeel's cat. Pantherlily?"

He nodded, smiling. "Yes, I am. And who are you?"

I smiled back, taking a seat at the table. "Kris, Gajeel's new partner. Basically, I showed up at Fairy Tail two days ago, I'm a shadow dragon slayer, and have amnesia. Gajeel and I went on a mission yesterday and I remembered my magic, then we went to Fairy Tail and celebrated by getting drunk with Cana. Aaand… then I woke up here, dunno what happened in between. Oh, and I have the mother of all hangovers."

Pantherlily chuckled again and took two glasses and a pill bottle from the cupboard above the sink. He filled both with water and handed me one, along with a large white pill. "It'll take a while to kick in, but once it does, it'll dull the headache. By the way, do you want an early lunch? It's already a quarter to 12."

I took the pill and swallowed, not bothering to drink water with it. I saw Pantherlily looking at me weird and shrugged. "No gag reflex. Besides, I don't like swallowing both solids and liquids at the same time. And I haven't eaten anything since breakfast yesterday, so yes for food."

I turned when the kitchen door opened, revealing a grinning iron slayer. "What's that I hear about gag reflexes and food?"

Pantherlily chuckled and took out a frying pan. "She doesn't have one, and I'm making some. How's scrambled eggs and ham?"

I smiled at the cat, turning back the right way. "Perfect. Thanks for offering."

Gajeel walked in the kitchen and wrapped his arms around me, putting his chin on my shoulder. "No gag reflex, huh? How'd you test that out?"

I scowled and licked his earrings. "By swallowing an anti-hangover pill, and go put on a shirt."

He laughed and moved away to take a glass and pill from Pantherlily. "Gihihi, you know you don't want me to."

**'He's got a point…'**

I glared at him, sipping my water. "I know nothing!"

Pantherlily interrupted his response, sounding amused. "Gajeel, will you have normal food or scrap metal?"

He shrugged, taking two plates from the cupboard and sitting in front of me. "Food if ye're already cookin'."

The cat looked over his shoulder, scrambling the eggs. "Utensils?"

Gajeel grinned and morphed his hands into a knife and a fork. I shrugged and created shadow-tails, shaping their point into the same things. Pantherlily shook his head and went back to his pan. "You people and your magic…"

I grinned at Gajeel, completely forgetting I was supposed to be mad at him. He grinned back, not lewdly, evilly, or mockingly, just a normal friendly grin. Pantherlily slid the eggs and ham onto our plates and leaned against the counter. "So, what are you guys going to do today?"

I took a bite of eggs and looked over at him. "Nothing that involves bright lights or loud noises."

Both the man and the cat chuckled, agreeing. Gajeel took his pill, setting his glass down and re-morphing his hand into a fork. "I'll go to the guild and see from there. And drag Bubble Brain along."

I swallowed another mouthful and half-glared at him. "I'm too hung-over to argue with you damn metal head. Do you have cloaks?"

He nodded, raising a pierced eyebrow. "Why?"

I emptied my glass before answering. "Mine is MIA, and I am _not _going outside without something to shield me from the evil sun. That thing wants my death."

He laughed and swallowed a forkful. "Dragon slayer hangovers are a bitch. And yeah, I have something you can borrow."

We finished our plates and put them in the sink. Pantherlily suddenly morphed into a chibi version of himself and hopped on the table. "Well, I have to go training again. It was a pleasure to meet you, and I hope my roommate isn't bothering you too much. I hope to see you again, but under better circumstances. Now if you'll excuse me."

He jumped off and left the kitchen, heading for the front door. I turned to Gajeel, leaning against the closest counter. "So, what now? Your cat just poofed into a chibi and left."

Gajeel shrugged, flexing his fingers. "I guess we go to the guild. But not without anti-sun protection. Unless we want to walk there with our eyes closed."

I shook my head, straightening. "No way in hell. Not with a monster hangover."

He laughed and led me to one of the bedrooms, which was just like the living room. More maps and flyers, more random daggers, and more scrap metal. Other than that, a large, black, comfy-looking bed occupied most of the room, leaving barely leaving enough space for the desk tucked in a corner. I almost wished I had reached it the previous night. Gajeel slid a wall panel to the side, revealing a neat row of clothes. From there, he pulled out a light brown cloak and tossed it to me. "There ya go. Now get out, I need to change clothes. Unless you want to stay and watch, of course."

I rolled my eyes and stepped out. He chuckled in response and leaned against the doorframe. "Too bad, I put on a damn good show."

I dropped the cloak and pushed him back into the small room, continuing until he fell onto the bed.

'**Mmm… It really is comfy… Are you we can't-'**

'No. Shut up and watch. This was your idea too.'

I put a hand next to his head and leaned in, #2 laughing. I suddenly smirked and patted his cheek. "Save it for another time, partner. I'll be in the other room if you need me."

I straightened and walked- no, _strutted_ out, closing the door behind me.

'**I still wish we'd taken a nap on that thing.**'

'I'll assume you're referring to the bed, and don't correct me if I'm wrong.'

I walked over to the table and uncoiled the metal dragon from around my hair, letting the silky black strands fall around my shoulders. I ran a hand through it, untying any knots I came across. Once satisfied, I pulled it back up and re-coiled the dragon around it, leaving the thumb-sized strand out again. I looked at the map until a fully dressed Gajeel came out, new bandages and the same cloak as I had on. He jerked his head towards the front door and we walked out into the sunny street. The light seared my eyes and bounced around in my brain. I pulled my hood as forward as I could, groaning. My partner did the same and gave a knowing chuckle. We had barely taken three steps that the sound of a hammer cut through the air and our eardrums. I turned to the sound and noticed a balding man with glasses hammering a "For Sale by Owner" sign into the mailbox post. I walked over to him, cringing at the sound, and reluctantly pulled down my hood. "Good morning, are you selling this?"

The man nodded, thankfully putting down his hammer. "Yes, my wife and I moved closer to the city. She wants us to sell the house, but I'm not sure I can… It's part of a house 'pair lot', so there's little space between houses, and the two in pairs are less than three yard away. There are only seven rooms, the front door opens directly into the living room, and the neighbors are… peculiar. Not to mention it's fully furnished, so the buyers can't move their own stuff in before taking our stuff out."

I grinned, trying to ignore the anvil squashing my brain. "Then you're in luck! I'm in need of an apartment, and the other house in the pair belongs to my work partner. What are you selling for?"

He smiled happily, clasping his hands in front of him. "Really?! Oh thank you! How does 2 million sound?"

My jaw dropped. "What? 2 million? A-Are you sure about this?"

He nodded vigorously in response. "Yes, we really don't need the money. Consider it a thank-you gift. I'll deal with everything; you'll just need to go to the bank and sign papers by the end of the day. You can move in right after that."

We shook hands and I walked back to Gajeel, pulling my hood back up. He raised an eyebrow and started walking. "What was that all about?"

I grinned happily, coming up next to him. "Nothing~ I just bought the house next to yours _and _got him to stop assaulting our ears with his hammer."

He chuckled and grinned back. "I thought ya wanted to move in with me, Mrs. Redfox."

I snorted a laugh, thumbing my loose strand. "Yeah, but that was before I saw what a mess your house is. **And how sexy you look shirtless. Not to mention your adorable sleeping face.**"

He made a quiet chocking sound and his cheeks pinked.

'Oh. Shit. Damn hangover… I can't control #2 like this!'

'**DAMN RIGHT! I'm free to interject~'**

'Maybe I _will_ get that medicine to suppress you…'

'**Aww… But look at how cute he is when he blushes!' **

Gajeel thankfully recovered quickly and grinned down at me. "Ya regrettin' not stayin' for the show?"

I rolled my eyes and bumped him with my hip. "You wish. Besides, if I remember correctly, I said to save it for later."

He chuckled and looped an arm around my shoulders. "Mhm, that's right! And since we're neighbors, I can show up half-naked at your door whenever I want."

I poked his stomach, although I didn't really mind. "What was that the old man said about the neighbors?"

He chuckled and removed his arm. "Alright, alright. Say, how about a contest?"

I raised an eyebrow, curious. "What kind of contest?"

His grin widened, seeing I had taken the bait. "First to the guild gets a free night at the other's house, no questions asked."

I grinned back, adjusting my hood. "You're on. On three?"

He nodded, stopping. "One."

I got into position, one knee bent and my fingertips on the ground, smirking. "THREE!"

I took off in a flat-out sprint, the soles of my boots slapping the pavement. The iron slayer swore and ran after me. We wove in and out of the growing crowd, laughing and cursing. At some point during the chase, the medicine kicked in, and I threw my hood back, cheering. I was almost at the guild doors when Gajeel grabbed the back of my cloak and pushed me into the ground. I growled and tackled him, the both of us tumbling through the door. When we came to a stop, Gajeel was grinning on top of me. "I win."

I covered his face with one hand and shoved it back, having too much fun to scowl correctly. "Only because you shoved me into the pavement!"

He grabbed my wrist and pinned it above me. "Well, you got a head start!"

I stuck my tongue out and flicked his forehead, the shimmery purple/black nailpolish on my nail chipping a bit. "I needed something to make up the muscle difference! And I didn't cheat; I went on three, like agreed."

He grabbed my other wrist and pinned it next to the other, his grinning face inches from mine. "What'cha gonna do now?"

I narrowed my eyes at the hands holding mine down, then at whom they belonged to. "1. You're heavy as fuck. 2. I know your weak spot."

I started to raise my knee to crush his future children, but was stopped by someone clearing their throat. I looked out from under Gajeel's arm, smiling. "Heya Lucy!"

The blonde was looking down at us, dark circles under her eyes and hammer in hand. "Can you guys stop your constant flirting for a second and help us fix this?"

I got up with my partner, ignoring the first part. "Fix what?"

Lucy motioned at the mess of broken tables and several holes in the walls. About a dozen guild members were scattered around the room, fixing things. "This. You guys got hammered and started fighting. You beat Natsu to a pulp and kept throwing each other around, until Mirajane called it a draw and made you guys go home."

I looked at my fellow dragon slayer, my mouth slightly open. "Dude…"

We both broke out in a grin and bro-fisted, speaking simultaneously. "That sounds awesome!"

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_1. I'M SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN SO LONG! *hides behind Gajeel* Please don't kill me... I edited all previous chapters to make up for it... Including A/N... You should go back and see what I changed... Please? I didn't do it for my new readers, I did it for my 21 subscribers! Please go read?_

_2. Did I mention I'm turning 15 the 19th? In TWO DAYS? Well I did now :3 If you want to give me something, give me reviews~ And more reviews~ (Subscriptions and Favorites are okay too, but not as good)_

_3. I took jewels as being of the same approximate value as yens, so 2 million jewels would be about $20,000. I know right? Just accept the man was a moron and how convenient this is. Anywho, Kris will be shopping with Lucy next episode with the rest of her 450,000 jewels._

_4. New poll up! It's more important than the last one! It's about this story and the original story crossing and mixing! Please help..._

5. I was going to make this longer, but I thought you might want Ch. 7 by now. So, the chapter has been split. Which means...Ch. 8 is on it's way! But I'm moving, still have to do my summer project, my birthday is in 2 days (8/19), and going to France for a week to renew my visa. So you might not get it until September... But it'll be out ASAP, I promise!

Review-Related A/N (you might still want to read, but you don't have to)

_6. Dear **Khitan**, I know I already said this in PMs, but I seriously love you *0* I remembered to add a bit about her appearance in here, but there'll be more in the next chapter too. I hope it helps :) And I have no idea how tall Gajeel is, so I estimated at 5' 9"._

_7. To the "**Gues**t" who reviewed Ch. 3, 4, and 5. You probably won't ever see this, but just in case. I hadn't noticed I had left the "Disney" in Ch. 3, thanks for pointing that out. You are entitled to your own opinions, and I won't hate you for not liking something I do or liking something I don't. I guess Kris was kinda Mary-Sueish... SO, I took the Lithmus Test and stuff and did a lot of editing to change that. Hope you're happy(er) with this now. However, your review to Ch. 5 really confused me: "_Wait, so you make a character almost completely off of Levy personality-wise, and yet you don't like GaLe. Wow." _I'm not sure we've been reading the same thing... How is she ANYTHING like Levy? She's loud, violent, wears tight black clothes, a bit of a perv, and swears. Not to mention the stuff that'll happen later. I can only see three similarities: both are girls, both are friends with Lucy, and both have a possible attraction to Gajeel. CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME?!_

_8. ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT I'M GOING ALREADY! Sorry for the long-ass A/N... See you soon :D_


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